Troilus  : 


■  Lady,  give  me  your  hand  :  and,  as  you  walk. 
To  our  own  selves  bend  we  our  needful  talk  " 


Troilus  and  Cressida    Act  IV     Scene  4 


Copyright,    1901 

By 

THE    UNIVERSITY    SOCIETY 


LIBRAR 


f^. 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA.  ^4  j 

Preface.  ^'\o\ 

The  Early  Editions.  In  1609  two  quarto  editions  of 
Troiliis  and  Crcssida  were  issued,  with  the  following 
title-pages : — 

(i.)   ''The  I  Historic  of  Troylus  |  and  Cresseida.   |  As 
it  was  acted  by  the  Kings  Maiesties   |   seruants  at  the 
globe.  I     Written   by  William   Shakespeare.     |  London 
Imprinted  by  G.  Eld  for  R.  Bonian  and  H.  IValley,  and 
are  to  be  sold  at  the  spred  Eagle  in  Paules   |   Church- 
yeard,  ouer  against  the  |  great  North  doore.  |  1609."* 

(ii.)  The  |  Famous  Historic  of  Troylus  and  Cresscid.  j 
Excellently  expressing  the  beginning  |  of  their  loucs,  with 
the  conceited  wooing  |  of  Pandarus  Prince  of  Licia.  \ 
Written  by  William  Shakespeare.  |  London  |  Imprinted 
by  G.  Eld  for  R.  Bonian  and  H.  Walley,  and  |  are  to  be 
sold  at  the  spred  Eagle  in  Paules  |  Church-yeard,  ouer 
against  the  |  great  North  doore.  |  1609.  | 

The  text  is  identical  in  the  two  quartos,  the  difference 
being  merely  the  variation  in  the  title-page,  and  the  addi- 
tion of  a  preface  to  the  latter  edition.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  leaf  with  the  preface  was  not  in  the  original  issue, 
and  that  the  first  quarto  was  published  with  the  statement 
that  it  had  been  acted  by  the  King's  servants  at  the  Globe. 
The  Cambridge  Editors  beheve  that  the  copies  with  this 
title-page  were  first  issued  for  the  theatre,  and  afterwards 
those  with  the  new  title-page  and  preface  for  the  general 
readers,  and  they  are  of  opinion  that  in  this  case  the  ex- 
pression ''  never  staled  with  the  stage,  never  clapper- 
claw'd  with  the  palms  of  the  "vulgar"  must  refer  to  the 
first  appearance  of  the  play  in  type,  unless  we  suppose 
*  Vide  Shakespeare  Quarto  Facsimiles,  No.  13. 


Preface  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

that  the  pubUsher  was  more  careful  to  say  what  would 
recommend  his  book  than  to  state  what  was  literally  true. 
It  seems,  however,  scarcely  plausible  that  the  expression 
can  L'efer  to  mere  publication,  and  not  to  actual  per- 
formance ;  it  is  probable  that  the  quartos  differed  in  some 
important  respects  from  the  version  of  the  play  acted  by 
''  the  King's  servants,"  and  the  new  title-page  and  preface 
were  perhaps  due  to  some  remonstrance  on  the  part  of 
the  author  or  "  the  grand  possessors." 

In  the  First  Folio  Troihis  and  Cressida  is  found  be- 
tween the  "  Histories  "  and  "  Tragedies  " ;  it  is  not  men  - 
tioned  in  the  Table  of  Contents,  and  the  editors  were  evi- 
dently doubtful  as  to  its  classification.  "  Coriolanus," 
"  Titus  Andronicus,"  "Romeo  and  Juliet/'  ""  Troilus  and 
Cressida/'  was  the  original  order  of  the  Tragedies,  and  the 
first  three  pages  of  the  present  play  were  actually  paged 
so  as  to  follow  Romeo  and  Juliet,"^  but  Timon  of  Athens 
was  subsequently  put  in  its  place,  and  a  neutral  position 
assigned  to  it  between  the  two  main  divisions.  The  Folio 
editors'  view  that  the  play  was  a  Tragedy  was  certainly 
neither  in  accordance  with  the  sentiment  of  the  prologue 
(first  found  in  the  Folio  and  seemingly  non-Shake- 
spearian) and  the  quarto  preface,  which  make  it  a  com- 
edy, nor  with  the  title-page  and  running  title  of  the 
quartos,  which  treat  it  as  a  history.  Troilus  and  Cressida 
presents  perhaps  the  most  complex  problem  in  the  whole 
range  of  Shakespeare's  work.  It  has  been  well  described 
as  "  a  History  in  which  historical  verisimilitude  is  openly 
set  at  nought,  a  Comedy  without  genuine  laughter,  a 
Tragedy  without  pathos." 

There  are  many  points  of  difference  between  the 
Quarto  and  Folio  text  of  the  play,  and  the  Cambridge 

*  "  The  editors  cancelled  the  leaf  containing  the  end  of  Romeo 
and  Juliet  on  one  side  and  the  beginning  of  Troihis  and  Cressida 
on  the  other,  but  retained  the  other  leaf  already  printed,  and  then 
added  the  prologue  to  fill  up  the  blank  page,  which  in  the  original 
setting  of  the  type  had  been  occupied  by  the  end  of  Romeo  and 
Juliet "__  (Cambridge  Ed. ) . 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Preface 

editors  are  probably  correct  in  their  conclusions  that  the 
discrepancies  are  to  be  explained  thus : — the  Quarto  was 
printed  from  a  transcript  of  the  author's  original  MS., 
which  was  subsequently  slightly  revised  by  the  author 
himself ;  before  the  First  Folio  was  printed  this  revised 
MS.  had  been  tampered  with  by  another  hand,  perhaps 
by  the  writer  of  the  prologue. 

Date  of  Composition.  The  publication  of  the  quar- 
tos in  1609  gives  us  one  limit  for  the  date  of  Troilus  and 
Cressida,  but  (i.)  certain  discrepancies  in  the  text,  (ii.) 
differences  of  style,  thought,  language,  and  metrical  qual- 
ities, and  (iii.)  important  pieces  of  external  evidence, 
make  it  almost  certain  that  the  play  passed  through  va- 
rious stages  of  revision,  and  was  in  all  probability  com- 
posed at  different  times.  Under  (i.)  must  be  noticed  that 
*'  in  Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  Hector  goes  to  the  field  and  fights,  in 
Act  I.  Sc.  iii.,  after  this,  we  find  him  grown  rusty  in  the 
long-continued  truce";  again  "the  rhyming  couplet,  V. 
xi.  33,  34,  which  almost  terminates  the  last  scene,  is  by 
the  Folio  editors  repeated  at  the  end  of  Act  V.  Sc.  iii., 
which  fact  strongly  suggests  that  Scenes  vi.-xi.  are  a 
later  insertion."  As  regard  (ii.),  the  general  style  of 
those  parts  of  the  play  dealing  with  the  Love  Story  con- 
trasts strongly  with  the  parts  belonging  to  the  Camp 
Story;  the  former  bear  the  impress  of  Shakespeare's 
earlier  characteristics,*  the  latter  of  his  later. 

(iii.)  External  evidence  points  to  Shakespeare's  con- 
nexion \vith  the  subject  of  Troilus  and  Cressida  at  least 
as  early  as  1599,  for  in  the  old  anonymous  play  of  His- 
triomastix  (written  by  Marston  and  others  about  that 
year)   a  satirical  production  called  forth  by  the  famous 

*  Perhaps  we  should  note  in  this  connexion  the  characteristically 
early  *  echo  of  Marlowe '  to  be  found  in  this  portion  of  Act  II. 
Sc.  ii.  82,  where  the  reference  is  to  Marlowe's  famous  lines  in 
Faiistus : — 

"  Was  this  the  face  that  launched  a  thousand  ships 
And  burnt  the  topmost  tozvcrs  of  Ilium  f" 


Preface  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Battle  of  the  Theatres,  associated  with  the  quarrels  of 
Marston,  Dekker,  Jonson,  etc. — occurs  the  following  bur- 
lesque passage: — 

"  Troy.   Come,  Cressida,  my  cresset  light, 

Thy  face  doth  shine  both  day  and  night, 
Behold,  behold  thy  garter  blue 
Thy  knight  his  valiant  dhow  wears,^ 
That  when  he  SHAKES  his  furious  SPEARE, 
The  foe,  in  shivering  fearful  sort, 
May  lay  him  down  in  death  to  snort. 
Cress.  O  knight,  with  valour  in  thy  face, 

Here  take  my  skreene,  wear  it  for  grace; 
Within  thy  helmet  put  the  same, 
Therewith  to  make  thy  enemies  lame."  f 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  here  a  travesty  of  an 
incident  (cp.  Act  V.  ii.)  in  a  play  on  the  subject  of  Troiliis 
and  Cressida  and  that  this  play  was  by  Shakespeare. 

*  The  text  is  obviously  corrupt ;  a  line  has  dropped  out  ending 
in  a  word  to  rhyme  with  ''  blue  " ;  "  wears "  should  be  "  wear," 
rhyming  with  "  spcare." 

t  This  passage  lends  colour  to  the  hypothesis  that  Troilus  and 
Cressida  originally  had  some  real  or  supposed  bearing  on  the 
theatrical  quarrels  of  the  day,  Ajax  representing  Jonson,  and 
Thersites  standing  for  Dekker;  "rank  Thersites  with  his  mastic 
jaws"  has  been  brought  into  connexion  with  Dekker's  Satiro- 
mastix  (1601),  and  Jonson's  description  of  him  in  The  Poetaster, 
"  one  of  the  most  overflowing  rank  wits  in  Rome."  Mr.  Fleay 
has  suggested  that  the  "  physic  "  given  "  to  the  great  Myrmidon  " 
(I.  iii.  378;  HI.  iii.  34)  is  identical  with  the  "purge"  adminis- 
tered by  Shakespeare  to  Jonson  in  The  Return  from  Parnassus. 
The  early  Troilus  and  Cressida  may  have  contained  topical  allu- 
sions, but  these  allusions  were  intentionally  '  overlaid '  in  the 
revised  form  of  the  play;  minute  criticism  has  probably  detected 
fossil  remains  of  theatrical  satire.  Even  the  doubtful  Prologue 
with  "  its  prologue  armed  "  seems  reminiscent  of  the  armed  Pro- 
logue, in  Jonson's  polemical  Poetaster. 

It  is  worth  while  noting  that  the  Envy  Induction  in  the  latter 
play  imitated  the  old  play  Muccdorus  (1598,  ist  ed.)  ;  we  have  a 
reference  to  the  end  of  Mucedorus  in  Troilus  and  Cressida,  II. 
iii.  23,  "  Devil  Envy,  say  Amen  !  " 


TROILUS  AND  CRCSSIDA  Preface 

We  know,  from  Henslowe's  Diary,  that  about  the  same 
time,  during  the  early  part  of  1599,  Dekker  and  Chettle 
were  preparing  a  play  which  was  at  first  to  be  called 
'' Troylles  and  Cresseda,"  but  afterwards  Agamemnon] 
and  it  is  just  possible  that  both  this  and  Shakespeare's 
Troiliis  were  based  on  some  older  production.  Under 
the  date  of  Feb.  7th,  1603,  there  is  an  entry  in  the  Sta- 
tioners' Register  to  "  the  book  of  Troilns  and  Cressida," 
as  it  is  acted  by  "  my  Lord  Chamberlain's  servants  " ;  the 
book  is  entered  for  James  Roberts  to  be  printed  "  when 
he  had  gotten  sufficient  authority  for  it."  This  must 
have  been  Shakespeare's  play.  Roberts  did  not  get  the 
necessary  authority,  and  hence  the  re-entry  in  the  Regis- 
ter (Jan.  28,  1609)  before  the  publication  of  the  Quarto 
edition.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  how  far  the  play 
burlesqued  in  Histriomastix,  the  1603  play,  and  the  1609 
quarto  were  identical.* 

The  safest  course  is  to  assign  ''  circa  1599  "  to  the  play 
in  its  first  form,  ''  circa  1602  "  to  the  second  and  main 
revision,  allowing  for  subsequent  additions  between  the 
latter  date  and  its  publication  in  1609.!  This  perplexing 
"  comedy  of  disillusion,"  with  its  dark  irony,  its  wistful 
melancholy,  its  travesty  of  the  faith  of  Romeo  and  Juliet, 
its  depreciation  of  ancient  heroism  and  medieval  chivalry, 
its  scoffing  worldly  wisdom,  helps  us  perhaps  to  realise, 
somewhat  at  least,  the  deepening  changes  in  Shake- 
speare's aspect  of  life,  which  lead  him  from  farce  to 
comedy,  from  comedy  to  sombre  tragi-comedy,  and  thence 
to  soul-racking  tragedy. 

Source  of  the  Plot.  The  main  sources  of  Troilus  and 
Cressida   are: — (i.)    Chaucer's    Troilus,    which    formed 

*The  title-page  of  the  first  quarto  evidently  claimed  that  the 
version  was  the  same  as  that  acted  by  the  Chamberlain's  men  in 
1603  ;  the  second  quarto,  with  the  preface,  withdrew  the  statement. 

t  Troilus  invites  comparison  with  Timon  of  Athens,  which  be- 
longs probably  to  (about)  1606,  but  its  authorship  is  only  Shake- 
speare's in  part  {vide  Preface  to  Timon) . 


Preface  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

the  basis  of  the  love-story;*  (ii.)  Caxton's  Rccuyell  of 
the  hist  or  yes  of  Troye  (translated  from  Raoul  le  Fevre's 
Rccneil  des  Histoires  de  Troyes),\  and  Lydgate's  Troy 
Book  (translated  from  Guido  di  Colonna),  whence 
Shakespeare  drew  his  materials  for  the  camp-story;  (iii.) 
from  Chapman's  Homer  (Bk.  I.-VIL,  1597)  the  char- 
acter of  Thersites  was  derived  {vide  Book  IL)t 

Duration  of  Action.  It  is  impossible,  according  to 
Mr.  P.  A.  Daniel,  to  assign  more  than  four  days  to 
Troilus  and  Cressida,  though  certain  discrepancies  in 
Act  II.  Sc.  iii.,  and  Act  III.  Sc.  i.  and  iii.,  rather  hamper 
the  distribution  of  the  time : — 

Day  I,  Act  I.  Sc.  i.  and  ii.  Interval.  Day  2,  Act  I. 
Sc.  iii. ;  Act  II.  and  Act  III.  Day  3,  Act  IV. ;  Act  V.  Sc. 
i.  and  ii.    Day  4,  Act  V.  Sc.  iii.-x. 

Dryden's  Version.  "  Troilus  and  Cressida;  or,  Truth 
Foimd  Too  Late:  A  tragedy  by  John  Dryden ;  acted  at 
the  Duke's  Theatre " ;  this  improvement  on  Shake- 
speare's play  was  published  (4to,  1679)  with  a  prefatory 
Essay,  wherein  the  writer  explains  that  Shakespeare 
''  began  it  with  some  fire,"  but  ''  the  latter  part  is  nothing 
but  a  confusion  of  drums  and  trumpets,  excursions  and 
alarms,"  many  of  the  characters  were,  he  believed,  "  be- 
gun and  left  unfinished." 

*  For  the  literary  history  of  Chaucer's  Troilus,  cp.  Skeat's 
Preface  to  the  poem ;  Shakespeare's  and  Chaucer's  conceptions 
are  contrasted  in  Godwin's  Life  of  Chaucer;  concerning  Shake- 
speare's debt  of  Chaucer,  cp.  Lloyd's  Essays  on  Shakespeare; 
Hales'  Essays  and  Notes  on  Shakespeare ;  etc. 

fH.  O.  Sommer's  recent  reprint  of  Caxton's  Rccuyell  (Nutt, 
1894)  contains  a  full  bibliography  and  history  of  the  book. 
Shakespeare  may  well  have  used  Creede's  1596  version. 

4:  In  a  valuable  and  suggestive  paper  on  Greene's  Romances  and 
Shakespeare  ("  New  Shak.  Soc,"  1888)  Prof.  Herford  points  out 
that  in  Euphiies,  His  Censure  to  Philautits  (,1587),  we  have  a 
version  of  the  Troilus  and  Cressida  story,  which,  slight  and  in- 
significant as  it  is,  "  approaches  more  nearly  than  any  other 
version,  the  manner  of  Shakespeare's  Troilus  and  Cressida." 

~^  6 


The  Gates  of  Troy. 

From  an  engraving  in  an  old  French  edition  of  Raoul  le  Ffevre's 

History  of  Troy,  1529. 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Critical  Comments. 
1. 

Argument. 

I.  In  the  eighth  year  of  the  siege  of  Troy  by  the 
Greeks,  Troilus,  son  of  King  Priam  of  Troy,  becomes 
enamoured  of  Cressida,  a  Trojan  maiden,  and  induces  her 
uncle  Pandarus  to  intercede  for  him.  At  this  time  a 
truce  has  been  declared  between  the  two  armies.  While 
the  Greeks  are  carping  at  the  slowness  of  the  siege,  a 
challenge  is  sent  them  by  Hector  of  Troy,  directed  against 
any  one  of  their  champions  who  dares  meet  him  in  single 
combat;  his  evident  desire  being  to  cope  with  Achilles, 
the  Greek's  chief  warrior. 

II.  During  the  truce  the  Greeks  had  proposed  terms 
of  peace,  which  included  the  return  of  the  ravished  Helen 
and  the  payment  of  a  war  indemnity.  The  terms  are 
rejected  and  the  besieging  generals  prepare  to  renew  the 
struggle.  They  seek  an  interview  with  Achilles,  who 
has  for  some  time  sulked  within  his  tent.  He  denies  them 
an  interview ;  whereupon  they  select  Ajax  to  fight  with 
Hector. 

III.  In  the  interim  Pandarus  prospers  as  go-between 
for  Troilus  with  Cressida.  He  arranges  a  rendezvous 
where  the  lovers  plight  their  troth  and,  according  to  cus- 
tom, resolve  to  live  together.  But  Cressida's  father,  who 
has  been  traitorously  serving  the  Greeks,  requests  them 
to  ask  his  daughter  in  exchange  for  a  Trojan  leader  held 
captive  by  them. 

IV.  The  Greeks  consent,  and  send  Diomedes  to  effect 
the  exchange.  He  bears  away  Cressida  on  the  morning 
following  her  nuptial  night.    The  lovers  bewail  this  stern 

8 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

necessity  of  war,  and  part  after  many  protestations  of 
fidelity.  Diomedes  and  Cressida  reach  the  Grecian  camp 
just  as  Ajax  is  starting  forth  to  meet  Hector.  The  two 
warriors  fight;  but  after  a  passage  at  arms  postpone 
further  conflict  on  account  of  kinship.  The  various 
Grecian  and  Trojan  leaders  make  use  of  this  armistice 
for  an  interchange  of  amicable  courtesies. 

V.  Troilus  asks  the  Greek  Ulysses  to  lead  him  to  the 
tent  where  Cressida  has  been  confined,  and  there  he  is 
deeply  mortified  to  become  a  secret  witness  of  her  faith- 
lessness, for  she  has  transferred  her  affections  to  Dio- 
medes. In  battle  on  the  following  day,  Troilus  engages 
in  conflict  with  Diomedes,  but  without  serious  result  for 
either.  Meanwhile  Hector  also  has  gone  forth  to  battle 
again,  disregarding  the  ominous  predictions  of  his  sister 
Cassandra.  He  kills  Patroclus,  a  close  friend  of  Achilles, 
which  deed  so  enrages  that  moody  warrior,  that  he  shakes 
oflF  his  lethargy,  plunges  into  the  fray,  and  slays  Hector, 
whose  dead  body  he  drags  at  his  horse's  heels  along  the 
field  before  Troy. 

McSpadden  :  Shakespearian  Synopses. 

II. 

Troilus. 

Troilus  is  the  youngest  of  Priam's  numerous  sons,  and 
the  passion  of  which  he  is  the  victim  is  the  bare  instinc- 
tive impulse  of  the  teens,  the  form  that  first  love  takes 
when  crossed  by  an  unworthy  object,  which  might  have 
been  that  of  Romeo  had  Rosalind  not  overstood  her  op- 
portunity. It  is  his  age  that  explains  how,  notwithstand- 
ing his  high  mental  endowments,  he  is  so  infatuated  as 
to  mistake  the  planned  provocation  of  Cressida's  coyness 
for  stubborn  chastity,  and  to  allow  himself  to  be  played 
with  and  inflamed  by  her  concerted  airs  of  surprise  and 
confusion  when  at  last  they  are  brought  together.  He  is 
quite  as  dull  in  apprehending  the  character  of  Pandarus, 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

and  complains  of  his  techiness  to  be  wooed  to  woo,  when 
in  fact  he  is  but  holding  off  in  the  very  spirit  of  his  niece 
and  affecting  reluctance  in  order  to  excite  solicitation. 
Boccaccio  furnished  some  of  the  lines  of  this  characteriza- 
tion to  Chaucer,  but  Chaucer  gave  them  great  develop- 
ment in  handing  them  down  to  Shakespeare.  Troilus 
is  preserved  from  the  ridiculousness  that  pursues  the 
dupes  of  coquettes  of  so  debased  a  stamp  as  Cressida, 
by  the  allowances  that  untried  youth  bespeaks,  and  by 
the  spirit  and  gallantry  that  promises  the  coming  self- 
recovery,  the  first  process  of  which  appears  in  the  control 
he  imposes  on  his  anger  and  impatience  when  he  looks  on 
at  the  scene  of  her  falseness.  .  .  .  Still  our  sympathies 
are  but  moderately  engaged  for  him,  for  what  can  we  say 
of  him  but  that  he  is  young  and  a  fool — though  heroes 
have  been  so  before  and  since,  fit  to  be  played  with  and 
played  upon  by  a  jade  who  only  tantalizes  him  that  he  may 
cease  to  be  shy.  He  is  the  subjected  slave  of  an  intoxica- 
tion that  makes  him  insensible  to  the  debasement  of  admit- 
ting such  a  worm  as  Pandarus  into  the  very  presence  of 
what  should  be  the  sanctities  of  love.  The  ungenuineness 
of  the  love  that  is  in  question  is  self-betrayed,  when  in 
the  first  declaration,  as  in  the  latest  parting,  he  angles 
for  and  invites  assurances  of  faithfulness  which  it  is  not 
in  the  nature  of  things  should  be  either  convincing  or  true. 
Lloyd  :  Critical  Essays  on  the  Plays  of  Shakespeare. 

III. 

Cressida. 

There  is  nothing  in  these  two  poets  [Chaucer  and  Boc- 
caccio] that  can  compare  with  the  passionate  heat  and 
hatred,  the  boundless  bitterness  with  which  Shakespeare 
delineates  and  pursues  his  Cressida.  His  mood  is  the 
more  remarkable  that  he  in  no  wise  paints  her  as  unlov- 
able or  corrupt ;  she  is  merely  a  shallow,  frivolous,  sen- 
sual, pleasure-loving  coquette. 

10 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

She  does  little,  on  the  whole,  to  call  for  such  severity  of 
judgement.  She  is  a  mere  child  and  beginner  in  com- 
parison with  Cleopatra,  for  instance,  who,  for  all  that,  is 
not  so  unmercifully  condemned.  But  Shakespeare  has 
aggravated  and  pointed  every  circumstance  until  Cressida 
becomes  odious,  and  rouses  only  aversion.  The  change 
from  love  to  treachery,  from  Troilus  to  Diomedes,  is  in 
no  earlier  poet  effected  w^tli  such  rapidity.  Whenever 
Shakespeare  expresses  by  the  mouth  of  one  or  another  of 
his  characters  the  estimate  in  wdiich  he  intends  his  audi- 
ence to  hold  her,  one  is  astounded  by  the  bitterness  of  the 
hatred  he  discloses.  It  is  especially  noticeable  in  the 
scene  (IV.  v.)  in  which  Cressida  comes  to  the  Greek  camp 
and  is  greeted  by  the  kings  with  a  kiss. 

At  this  point  Cressida  has  as  yet  offended  in  nothing. 
She  has,  out  of  pure,  vehement  love  for  him,  passed  such 
a  night  w^ith  Troilus  as  Juliet  did  with  Romeo,  persuaded 
to  it  by  Pandarus,  as  Juliet  was  by  her  nurse.  Now  she 
accepts  and  returns  the  kiss  wherewith  the  Greek  chief- 
tains bid  her  welcome.  We  may  remark,  in  parenthesis, 
that  at  that  time  there  w^as  no  impropriety  in  such  a  greet- 
ing. In  William  Brenchley  Rye's  "  England  as  seen  by 
Foreigners  in  the  Days  of  Elizabeth  and  James  the  First," 
are  found,  under  the  heading  "  England  and  English- 
men," the  following  notes  by  Samuel  Riechel,  a  merchant 
from  Ulm :  "  Item,  when  a  foreigner  or  an  inhabitant 
goes  to  a  citizen's  house  on  business,  or  is  invited  as  a 
guest,  and  having  entered  therein,  he  is  received  by  the 
master  of  the  house,  the  lady,  or  the  daughter,  and  by 
them  welcomed ;  he  has  even  the  right  to  take  them  by 
the  arm  and  kiss  them,  which  is  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and  if  any  one  does  not  do  so,  it  is  regarded  and 
imputed  as  ignorance  and  ill-breeding  on  his  part." 

For  all  that,  Ulysses,  who  sees  through  her  at  the  first 
glance,  breaks  out  on  occasion  of  this  kiss  which  Cressida 
returns.  [IV.  v.  54-63:  Fie,  fie,  etc.]  So  Shakespeare 
causes  his  heroine  to  be  described,  and  doubtless  it  is  his 
own  last  word  about  her. 

II 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Shakespeare  deliberately  made  Cressida  sensually  at- 
tractive, but  spiritually  repulsive  and  unclean.  She  has 
desire  for  Troilus,  but  no  love.  She  is  among  those  who 
are  born  experienced ;  she  knows  how  to  inflame,  win, 
and  keep  men  enchained,  but  the  honourable  love  of  a 
man  is  useless  to  her.  At  the  same  time  she  is  one  of 
those  who  easily  find  their  master.  Any  man  who  is  not 
imposed  upon  by  her  airs,  who  sees  through  her  mock- 
prudish  rebuffs,  subdues  her  without  difficulty.  All  her 
sagacity  amounted  to,  after  all,  was  that  Troilus  would 
continue  ardent  so  long  as  she  said  "  No  " ;  that  men,  in 
short,  value  the  unattainable  and  what  is  won  with  diffi- 
culty— the  wisdom  of  any  commonplace  coquette.  Never 
has  Shakespeare  represented  coquetry  as  so  void  of 
charming  qualities. 

Cressida  is  never  modest  even  when  she  is  most  pru- 
dish ;  she  understands  a  jest,  even  bold  and  libertine  ones, 
and  she  will  bandy  them  with  enjoyment.  With  all  her 
kittenish  charm  she  is  uninteresting,  and,  in  spite  of  her 
hot  blood,  she  betrays  the  coldest  selfishness.  She  is 
neither  ridiculous  nor  unlovely,  but  as  little  is  she  beauti- 
ful ;  in  no  other  of  Shakespeare's  characters  is  the  sensual 
attraction  exercised  by  a  woman  so  completely  shorn  of  its 
poetry. 

Brandes  :  William  Shakespeare. 

IV. 

Ulysses. 

Ulysses  is  the  real  hero  of  the  play;  the  chief,  or,  at 
least,  the  great  purpose  of  which  is  the  utterance  of  the 
Ulyssean  view  of  Hfe;  and  in  this  play  Shakespeare  is 
Ulysses,  or  Ulysses  Shakespeare.  In  all  his  other  plays 
Shakespeare  so  lost  his  personal  consciousness  in  the  in- 
dividuality of  his  own  creations  that  they  think  and  feel, 
as  well  as  act,  like  real  men  and  wonien  other  than  their 
creator,  so  that  we  cannot  truly  say  of  the  thoughts  and 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

feelings  which  they  express,  that  Shakespeare  says  thus 
or  so;  for  it  is  not  Shakespeare  who  speaks,  but  they 
with  his  hps.  But  in  Ulysses,  Shakespeare,  acting  upon 
a  mere  hint,  filling  up  a  mere  traditionary  outline,  drew 
a  man  of  mature  years,  of  wide  observation,  of  profound- 
est  cogitative  power,  one  who  knew  all  the  weakness  and 
all  the  wiles  of  human  nature,  and  who  yet  remained 
with  blood  unbittered  and  soul  unsoured — a  man  who  saw 
through  all  shams,  and  fathomed  all  motives,  and  who 
yet  was  not  scornful  of  his  kind,  not  misanthropic,  hardly 
cynical  except  in  passing  moods ;  and  what  other  man 
was  this  than  Shakespeare  himself?  What  had  he  to  do 
when  he  had  passed  forty  years,  but  to  utter  his  own 
thoughts  when  he  would  find  words  for  the  lips  of 
Ulysses?  And  thus  it  is  that  Troihis  and  Cressida  is 
Shakespeare's  wisest  play.  If  we  would  know  what 
Shakespeare  thought  of  men  and  their  motives  after  he 
reached  maturity,  we  have  but  to  read  this  drama ;  drama 
it  is ;  but  with  what  other  character,  who  shall  say  ?  For, 
like  the  world's  pageant,  it  is  neither  tragedy  nor  comedy, 
but  a  tragi-comic  history,  in  which  the  intrigues  of  amor- 
ous men  and  hght-o'-loves  and  the  brokerage  of  panders 
are  mingled  with  the  deliberations  of  sages  and  the  strife 
and  the  death  of  heroes. 

The  thoughtful  reader  will  observe  that  Ulysses  per- 
vades the  serious  parts  of  the  play,  which  is  all  Ulyssean 
in  its  thought  and  language.  And  this  is  the  reason,  or 
rather  the  fact,  of  the  play's  lack  of  distinctive  character- 
ization. For  Ulysses  cannot  speak  all  the  time  that  he  is 
on  the  stage;  and,  therefore,  the  other  personages,  such 
as  may,  speak  Ulyssean,  with,  of  course,  such  personal 
allusion  and  peculiar  trick  as  a  dramatist  of  Shakespeare's 
skill  could  not  leave  them  without  for  difference. 

Richard  Grant  White:  On  Reading  Shakespeare. 


13 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

V. 
Thersites. 

Thersites  sits  with  Caliban  high  among-  Shakespeare's 
minor  triumphs.  He  was  brought  in  to  please  the 
mob.  He  is  the  Fool  of  the  piece,  fulfilling  the  functions 
of  Touchstone,  and  Launce,  and  Launcelot,  and  Costard. 
As  the  grave-diggers  were  brought  into  Hamlet  for  the 
sake  of  the  groundlings,  so  Thersites  came  into  Troilus 
and  Cressida.  As  if  that  he  might  leave  no  form  of  hu- 
man utterance  ungilded  by  his  genius,  Shakespeare  in 
Thersites  has  given  us  the  apotheosis  of  blackguardism 
and  billingsgate.  Thersites  is  only  a  railing  rascal.  Some 
low  creatures  are  mere  bellies  with  no  brain.  Thersites 
is  merely  mouth,  but  this  mouth  has  just  enough  coarse 
brain  above  it  to  know  a  wise  man  and  a  fool  when  he 
sees  them.  But  the  railings  of  this  deformed  slave  are 
splendid.  Thersites  is  almost  as  good  as  Falstafif.  He 
is  of  course  a  far  lower  organization  intellectually,  and 
somewhat  lower,  perhaps,  morally.  He  is  coarser  in  every 
way ;  his  humour,  such  as  he  has,  is  of  the  grossest  kind ; 
but  still  his  blackguardism  is  the  ideal  of  vituperation. 
He  is  far  better  than  Apemantus  in  Timon  of  Athens,  for 
there  is  no  hypocrisy  in  him,  no  egoism,  and,  comfortable 
trait  in  such  a  personage,  no  pretence  of  gentility.  For 
good  downright  "  sass  "  in  its  most  splendid  and  aggres- 
sive form,  there  is  in  literature  nothing  equal  to  the 
speeches  of  Thersites. 

Richard  Grant  White:  On  Reading  Shakespeare. 

VI. 
Pandarus. 

He  has  been  named  a  demoralised  Polonius,  and  the 
epithet  is  good.  He  is  an  old  voluptuary,  who  finds  his 
amusement  in  playing  the  spy  and  go-between,  now  that 

14 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

more  active  pleasures  are  denied  to  him.  The  cynical  en- 
joyment with  which  Shakespeare  (in  spite  of  his  con- 
tempt for  him)  has  drawn  him  is  very  characteristic  of  this 
period  of  his  Hfe.  Pandarus  is  clever  enough,  and  often 
witty,  but  there  is  no  enjoyment  of  his  wit ;  he  is  as  comi- 
cal, base,  and  shameless  as  Falstaff  himself,  but  he  never 
calls  forth  the  abstract  sympathy  we  feel  for  the  latter. 
Nothing  makes  amends  for  his  vileness,  nor  for  that  of 
Thersites,  nor  for  that  of  any  other  character  in  the  whole 
play.  Here,  as  in  other  plays,  Timon  of  Athens  in  par- 
ticular, is  shown  that  deep-seated  Anglo-Saxon  vein 
which,  according  to  the  popular  estimate,  Shakespeare  en- 
tirely lacked — that  vein  in  which  flows  the  life-blood  of 
Swift's,  Hogarth's,  and  even  some  of  Byron's  principal 
works,  and  it  shows  how,  after  all,  there  was  some  sym- 
pathy between  the  Merrie  England  of  those  days  and  the 
later  Land  of  Spleen. 

Brandes:  William  Shakespeare. 

VII. 
Love  and  Wantonness. 

As  Shakespeare  calls  forth  nothing  from  the  mauso- 
leum of  history,  or  the  catacombs  of  tradition,  without 
giving,  or  eliciting,  some  permanent  and  general  interest, 
and  brings  forward  no  subject,  which  he  does  not  moral- 
ize or  intellectualize — so  here  he  has  drawn  in  Cressida 
the  portrait  of  a  vehement  passion,  that,  having  its  true 
origin  and  proper  cause  in  warmth  of  temperament,  fast- 
ens on,  rather  than  fixes  to,  some  one  object  by  liking  and 
temporary  preference. 

There  's  language  in  her  eye,  her  cheek,  her  lip. 
Nay,  her  foot  speaks ;  her  wanton  spirits  look  out 
At  every  joint  and  motive  of  her  body. 

This  Shakespeare  has  contrasted  with  the  profound 
affection  represented  in  Troilus,   and  alone  worthy  the 

15 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

name  of  love — affection,  passionate  indeed,  swollen  with 
the  confluence  of  youthful  instincts  and  youthful  fancy, 
and  growing  in  the  radiance  of  hope  newly  risen,  in  short 
enlarged  by  the  collective  sympathies  of  nature ;  but  still 
having  a  depth  of  calmer  element  in  a  will  stronger  than 
desire,  more  entire  than  choice,  and  which  gives  per- 
manence to  its  own  act  by  converting  it  into  faith  and 
duty.  Hence  with  excellent  judgement,  and  with  an  ex- 
cellence higher  than  mere  judgement  can  give,  at  the 
close  of  the  play,  when  Cressida  has  sunk  into  infamy 
below  retrieval  and  beneath  hope,  the  same  will,  which 
had  been  the  substance  and  the  basis  of  his  love,  while 
the  restless  pleasures  and  passionate  longings,  like  sea- 
waves,  had  tossed  but  on  its  surface — this  same  moral 
energy  is  represented  as  snatching  him  aloof  from  all 
neighbourhood  with  her  dishonour,  from  all  lingering 
fondness  and  languishing  regrets,  whilst  it  rushes  with 
him  into  other  and  nobler  duties,  and  deepens  the  channel 
which  his  heroic  brother's  death  had  left  empty  for  its 
collected  flood. 

Coleridge  :  Notes  and  Lectures  upon  Shakespeare. 

VIII. 

The  GreeK  Heroes. 

The  whole  catalogue  of  the  Dramatis  Personce  in  the 
play  of  Troihis  and  Cressida,  so  far  as  they  depend  upon 
a  rich  and  original  vein  of  humour  in  the  author,  are 
drawn  with  a  felicity  which  never  was  surpassed.  The 
genius  of  Homer  has  been  a  topic  of  admiration  to  almost 
every  generation  of  men  since  the  period  in  which  he 
wrote.  But  his  characters  will  not  bear  the  sHghtest  com- 
parison with  the  delineation  of  the  same  characters  as 
they  stand  in  Shakespeare.  This  is  a  species  of  honour 
which  ought  by  no  means  to  be  forgotten  when  we  are 
making  the  eulogium  of  our  immortal  bard,  a  sort  of  illus- 
tration of  his  greatness  which  cannot  fail  to  place  it  in  a 

i6 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

very  conspicuous  light.  The  dispositions  of  men  perhaps 
had  not  been  sufficiently  unfolded  in  the  very  early  period 
of  intellectual  refinement  when  Homer  wrote ;  the  rays  of 
humour  had  not  been  dissected  by  the  glass,  or  rendered 
perdurable  by  the  pencil  of  the  poet.  Homer's  charac- 
ters are  drawn  with  a  laudable  portion  of  variety  and 
consistency;  but  his  Achilles,  his  Ajax,  and  his  Nestor 
are,  each  of  them,  rather  a  species  than  an  individual,  and 
can  boast  more  of  the  propriety  of  abstraction  than  of  the 
vivacity  of  a  moving  scene  of  absolute  life.  The  Achilles, 
the  Ajax,  and  the  various  Grecian  heroes  of  Shakespeare, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  absolute  men,  deficient  in  nothing 
which  can  tend  to  individualize  them,  and  already  touched 
with  the  Promethean  fire  that  might  infuse  a  soul  into 
what,  without  it,  were  lifeless  form. 

One  of  the  most  formidable  adversaries  of  true  poetry 
is  an  attribute  which  is  generally  miscalled  dignity. 
Shakespeare  possessed,  no  man  in  higher  perfection,  the 
true  dignity  and  loftiness  of  the  poetical  afflatus,  which 
he  has  displayed  in  many  of  the  finest  passages  of  his 
works  with  miraculous  success.  But  he  knew  that  no 
man  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be,  always  dignified.  He  knew 
that  those  subtler  traits  of  character  which  identify  a  man 
are  familiar  and  relaxed,  pervaded  with  passion,  and  not 
played  off  with  an  eye  to  external  decorum.  In  this  re- 
spect the  peculiarities  of  Shakespeare's  genius  are  no- 
where more  forcibly  illustrated  than  in  the  play  we  are 
here  considering.  The  champions  of  Greece  and  Troy, 
from  the  hour  in  which  their  names  were  first  recorded, 
had  always  worn  a  certain  formality  of  attire,  and 
marched  with  a  slow  and  measured  step.  No  poet,  till 
this  time,  had  ever  ventured  to  force  them  out  of  the  man- 
ner which  their  epic  creator  had  given  them.  Shake- 
speare first  supplied  their  limbs,  took  from  them  the 
classic  stiffness  of  their  gait,  and  enriched  them  with 
an  entire  set  of  those  attributes  which  might  render  them 
completely  beings  of  the  same  species  with  ourselves. 

Godwin  •  Life  of  Chaucer, 

17 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

IX. 

Moral  Contrasts. 

Shakspeare  intended  to  point  out  the  profound  all- 
pervading  contrast  between  the  much-commended  mental 
character  and  life  of  Greek  antiquity,  as  compared  with 
the  new  principle  of  life  in  the  Christian  era,  and  to  re- 
veal theblemishes  and  defects  of  Greek  life,  especially  in  re- 
gard to  its  morals,  as  compared  with  the  ever-increasing 
admiration  bestowed  upon  it.  This  could  probably  not 
be  effected  otherwise  than  by  giving  a  closer  view  of 
the  essential  foundation  of  the  ancient,  and  more  espe- 
cially of  Greek,  life  and  mental  culture,  taken  from  a 
comico-poetic  standpoint.  And  this  foundation,  as  is 
acknowledged  on  all  hands,  is  formed  by  the  Homeric 
poems,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  Trojan  war  in  its 
mythico-poetic  conception.  But  these  immortal  poems, 
when  regarded  from  a  strictly  moral  point  of  view,  and  in 
spite  of  all  their  ideality,  obviously  contain  a  decidedly 
immoral  element,  or  if  it  be  preferred,  the  form  in  which 
the  idea  is  clothed — according  to  our  higher  modem  con- 
ception of  moral  relations — presents  an  ugly  blot.  For  the 
whole  of  the  external  story  turns  upon  the  recovery  of  an 
adulteress  who  has  run  off  with  her  lover,  and  whose  sen- 
timents and  manner  of  acting  can  in  no  way  be  excused, 
either  by  ideal  beauty  or  by  the  interference  of  the  gods 
(Aphrodite)  ;  on  the*  contrary,  the  immorality  in  which 
even  the  gods  themselves  take  part,  appears  only  the  more 
glaring  by  such  an  interference.  Helen's  abduction  was 
not  worthy  of  the  great  war  of  vengeance  which  was  un- 
dertaken by  the  Greek  princes ;  for  the  honour  of  the 
Greek  nation  was  more  deeply  wronged  by  Helen  herself 
than  by  Paris.  A  war  undertaken  for  such  a  cause  and 
such  an  object  must,  therefore,  be  repulsive  to  the  moral 
consciousness  of  modern  times ;  and  still  more  do  we  feel 
this  subsequently  when  Helen  and  her  wronged  husband 
are  again  united,  and  restored  to  all  their  rights,  as  if 

i8 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

nothing  had  happened.  It  is  true  that  the  Greeks  had  a 
different  idea  of  marriage  and  of  the  mission  of  women ; 
this  we  all  know,  and  Shakspeare  doubtless  knew  it  also. 
But  the  very  fact  of  their  entertaining  such  notions,  is  the 
immoral  part  of  the  matter.  This  is  the  dark  side  of 
Greek  antiquity :  a  youthfully  vigorous,  but  also  youthfully 
sensuous  view  of  life  supported  by  the  idea  of  beauty,  and 
idealised  as  regards  form ;  a  view  of  life  which  raised 
beauty  into  an  absolute  privilege,  and  considered  its 
value  as  greater  than  that  of  goodness  and  truth.  It  was 
only  individual  philosophical  minds  that  rose  above  this 
idea. 

Ulrici  :  Shakspeare' s  Dramatic  Art, 

X. 

"  None  More  Witty." 

A  never  writer  to  an  ever  reader, 

News. 

Eternal  reader,  you  have  here  a  new  play,  never  staled 
with  the  stage,  never  clapper-clawed  with  the  palms  of 
the  vulgar,  and  yet  passing  full  of  the  palm  comical ;  for  it 
is  a  birth  of  your  brain  that  never  undertook  anything 
comical  vainly :  and  were  but  the  vain  names  of  comedies 
changed  for  titles  of  commodities  or  of  plays  for  pleas, 
you  should  see  all  those  grand  censors  that  now  style  them 
such  vanities  flock  to  them  for  the  main  grace  of  their 
gravities ;  especially  this  author's  comedies  that  are  so 
framed  to  the  life,  that  they  serve  for  the  most  common 
commentaries  of  all  the  actions  of  our  lives,  showing  such 
a  dexterity  and  power  of  wit,  that  the  most  displeased 
with  plays  are  pleased  with  his  comedies.  And  all  such 
dull  and  heavy  witted  worldlings  as  were  never  capable 
of  the  wit  of  a  comedy,  coming  by  report  of  them  to  his 
representations  have  found  that  wit  that  they  never  found 
in  themselves,  and  have  parted  better  witted  than  they 

19 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

came,  feenng  an  edge  of  wit  set  upon  them  more  than 
ever  they  dreamed  they  had  brain  to  grind  it  on.  So 
much  and  such  savoured  salt  of  wit  is  in  his  comedies 
that  they  seem  for  their  height  of  pleasure,  to  be  bom 
In  that  sea  that  brought  forth  Venus.  Amongst  all  there 
is  none  more  witty  than  this ;  and  had  I  time  I  would  com- 
ment upon  it,  though  I  know  it  needs  not  for  so  much  as 
will  make  you  think  your  testern  well  bestowed ;  but  for 
so  much  worth  as  even  poor  I  know  to  be  stuffed  in  it, 
it  deserves  such  a  labour  as  well  as  the  best  comedy  in 
Terence  or  Plautus.  And  believe  this  that  when  he  is 
gone  and  his  comedies  out  of  sale,  you  will  scramble  for 
them  and  set  up  a  new  English  Inquisition.  Take  this  for 
a  warning  and  at  the  peril  of  your  pleasures'  loss  and 
judgments,  refuse  not  nor  like  this  the  less  for  not  being 
sullied  with  the  smoky  breath  of  the  multitude ;  but  thank 
fortune  for  the  scape  it  hath  made  amongst  you,  since  by 
the  grand  possessors'  wills  I  believe  you  should  have 
prayed  for  them  rather  than  been  prayed.  And  so  I  leave 
all  such  to  be  prayed  for  (for  the  states  of  their  wits' 
healths)  that  will  not  praise  it.     Vale. 

Preface  to  Quarto  (2),  1609. 

XI. 

A  Bitter  Satire. 

This  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  Shakspere's  plays  to  deal 
with,  as  well  for  date  as  position.  .  .  .  The  play  is 
evidently  written  in  ill-humour  with  mankind ;  it  is  a  bit- 
ter satire.  Its  purpose  is  not  to  show  virtue  her  own 
feature,  but  contemptible  weakness,  paltry  vanity,  false- 
hood (like  scorn),  their  own  image.  .  .  .  Shak- 
spere's treatment  of  Chaucer's  heroine,  Cressida,  is,  too, 
a  shock  to  any  lover  of  the  early  poet's  work.  To  have 
the  beautiful  Cressida,  hesitating,  palpitating  like  the 
nightingale,  before  her  sin ;  driven  by  force  of  hard  cir- 
cumstances which  she  could  not  control  into  unfaithful- 

20 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

ness  to  her  love;  to  have  this  Cressida,  whom  Chaucer 
spared  for  very  ruth,  set  before  us  as  a  mere  shameless 
wanton,  making  eyes  at  all  the  men  she  sees,  and  show- 
ing her  looseness  in  the  movement  of  every  limb,  is  a 
terrible  blow.  But  whatever  may  have  been  Shakspere's 
motive  in  this  play,  we  certainly  have  in  it  his  least  pleas- 
ing production.  There  is  no  relief  to  the  patchery,  the 
jugglery,  and  the  knavery,  except  the  generous  welcome 
of  Nestor  to  Hector  in  the  Grecian  camp,  and  his  frank 
praise  of  the  gallant  Trojan,  who,  labouring  for  Destiny, 
made  cruel  way  through  ranks  of  Greekish  youth. 

Furnivall:  The  Leopold  Shakspere. 


The  scene  soon  opens  with  the  indecent  Pandarus 
trifling  with  the  famous  epic  names,  as  he  taps  them 
lightly  with  his  battledore  to  keep  up  his  little  game, 
which  is  to  get  Troilus  thoroughly  involved  with  Cres- 
sida :  ''  An  her  hair  were  not  somewhat  darker  than 
Helen's  (well,  go  to),  there  were  no  more  comparison 
between  the  w^omen  " ;  then  the  puppy  says,  "  I  will  not 
dispraise  your  sister  Cassandra's  wit."  Think  of  the 
jaunty  go-between  thus  estimating  the  terrible  prophetess 
of  the  Agamemnon,  while  he  is  only  whetting  Troilus's 
passion  for  Cressida,  and  devising  means  to  bring  them 
together.  For  this  is  meant  to  travesty  the  rape  of  Helen, 
which  was  the  motive  of  the  siege.  The  play  begins  by 
making  incontinence  a  very  important  business,  and  thus 
ridiculous.  As  Thersites  says,  ''  All  the  argument  is  a 
cuckold,  and  war  and  lechery  confound  all." 

Subsequently  Cressida,  at  a  wink  from  the  Greek  Dio- 
medes,  passes  out  of  the  keeping  of  her  Trojan  lover, 
thus  making  the  politics  as  light  as  her  love.  And  the 
scenes  where  Pandarus  lickerishly  plans  the  assignation, 
and  rallies  Cressida  afterwards,  are  so  purposely  broad 
that  every  pretence  of  sentiment  is  emptied  out  of  the 
play ;  the  vulgarity  becomes  so  conspicuous  that  the  fight- 
ing itself  is  infected  with  it  and  runs  into  parody.  The 
reader  need  only  turn  to  the  inter jectional  soliloquies  of 

21 


Comments  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Thersites,  which  supply  to  every  mock-heroic  incident  a 
very  free  translation,  to  perceive  that  there  was  an  inten- 
tion in  the  co-laborers  upon  this  play  to  make  all  such 
famous  court-manners  and  their  quarrels  seem  ridiculous. 
Weiss:  IVit,  Humor,  and  Shakspeare. 

XII. 

Unique  and  Enigmatic. 

It  is  indeed  a  wonderful  production — wonderful  alike 
for  the  profusion  of  wit,  of  poetry,  and  of  wisdom 
crowded  into  it,  and  for  the  depth,  the  subtlety,  and  life- 
likeness  of  the  individual  characterization.  And  so  far 
nearly  all  the  later  and  better  critics  are  substantially 
agreed.  On  the  other  side,  one  cannot  discover  what  the 
Poet  is  driving  at :  marvellous  as  are  the  details  in  spirit 
and  variety  of  life,  they  do  not  seem  to  grow  from  any 
common  principle  or  purpose ;  and  it  is  only  in  the  light 
of  such  principle  or  purpose  that  they  can  receive  a  logical 
statement  and  interpretation.  Hence  there  has  grown  a 
remarkable  diversity,  not  to  say  oppugnancy,  of  criticism 
respecting  it;  and  some  of  the  higher  critics  have  em- 
ployed what  seems  to  us  a  great  over-refinement  of  specu- 
lation, in  order  to  make  out  some  one  idea  under  which 
the  details  might  all  be  artistically  reduced. 

Hudson  :  The  Works  of  Shakespeare. 


The  fame  of  its  story  has  contributed  as  much  as  its 
many  enigmatic  and  its  many  splendid  qualities,  to  give 
this  drama  a  unique  position  among  Shakespeare's  works. 
Elsewhere,  Shakespeare  has  commonly  avoided  the  great 
master-themes  of  literature ;  here  he  became  the  rival  of 
Chaucer,  Boccaccio,  and  Homer.  It  would  not  have  sur- 
prised us  if  the  man  whose  peculiar  art  lay  in  creating 
"  a  soul  within  the  ribs "  of  a  dead  or  moribund  tale 
should  have  failed  to  figure  in  the  procession  of  the  poets 

22 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Comments 

of  the  tale  of  Troy.  But  it  is  strange  that,  in  that  pro- 
cession, having  joined  it,  he  should  play  the  role  of  the 
ironic  caricaturist,  not  only  degrading  a  beautiful  and 
noble  tradition,  which  for  the  sake  of  dramatic  truth  he 
might,  but  degrading  it  without  vindicating  the  added 
"  realism "  by  added  reality.  Troiliis  and  Cressida  is 
strangely  mingled  of  splendour  and  foulness,  of  rhetorical 
strength  and  dramatic  perversity. 

Herford  :  The  Everslcy  Shakespeare. 


DRAMATIS  PERSONAE. 

Priam,  king  of  Troy. 

Hector, 

Troilus, 

Paris,  r"  his  sons. 

Deiphobus, 

Helenus,        J 

Margarelon,  a  bastard  son  of  Priam. 

.^Eneas       ^ 

.  ■"       >-  Trojan  commanders. 

Antenor,    ) 

Calchas,  a  Trojan  priest,  taking  part  zuith  the  Greeks. 

Pandarus,  uncle  to  Cressida. 

Agamemnon,  the  Grecian  general. 

Menelaus,  his  brother. 


Achilles, 

AjAX, 

Ulysses, 
Nestor, 

>  Grecian  commanders. 

Diomedes, 
Patroclus, 

Thersites, 

a  deformed  and  scurrilous  Grecian. 

Alexander 

servant  to  Cressida. 

Servant  to 

Troilus. 

Servant  to  Paris. 

Servant  to  Dioi 

nedes. 

Helen,  wife  to  Menelaus. 

Andromache,  wife  to  Hector. 

Cassandra,  daughter  to  Priam;  a  prophetess. 

Cressida,  daughter  to  Calchas. 

Trojan  and  Greek  Soldiers,  and  Attendants. 

Scene:     Troy,  and  the  Grecian  camp. 


24 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


THE  PROLOGUE. 

In  Troy  there  lies  the  scene.    From  isles  of  Greece 
The  princes  orgulous,  their  high  blood  chafed, 
Have  to  the  port  of  Athens  sent  their  ships, 
Fraught  with  the  ministers  and  instruments 
Of  cruel  war:   sixty  and  nine,  that  wore 
Their  crownets  regal,  from  the  Athenian  bay 
Put  forth  toward  Phrygia,  and  their  vow  is  made 
To  ransack  Troy,  within  whose  strong  immures 
The  ravish'd  Helen,  Menelaus'  queen, 
With  wanton  Paris  sleeps ;   and  that 's  the  quarrel. 
To  Tenedos  they  come;  ii 

And  the  deep-drawing  barks  do  there  disgorge 
Their  warlike  fraughtage:  now  on  Dardan  plains 
The  fresh  and  yet  unbruised  Greeks  do  pitch 
Their  brave  pavilions:    Priam's  six-gated  city, 
Dardan,  and  Timbria,  Helias,  Chetas,  Troien, 
And  Antenorides,  with  massy  staples. 
And  corresponsive  and  fulfilling  bolts, 
Sperr  up  the  sons  of  Troy. 

Now  expectation,  tickling  skittish  spirits,  20 

On  one  and  other  side,  Trojan  and  Greek, 
Sets  all  on  hazard:   and  hither  am  I  come 
A  prologue  arm'd,  but  not  in  confidence 
Of  author's  pen  or  actor's  voice,  but  suited 

25 


Act  I.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

In  like  conditions  as  our  argument, 

To  tell  you,  fair  beholders,  that  our  play 

Leaps  o'er  the  vaunt  and  firstlings  of  those  broils, 

Beginning  in  the  middle;    starting  thence  away 

To  what,  may  be  digested  in  a  play. 

Like,  or  find  fault;  do  as  your  pleasures  are:        30 

Now  good  or  bad,  'tis  but  the  chance  of  war. 


ACT  FIRST. 
Scene  I, 

Troy.    Before  Priam's  palace. 
Enter  Pandariis  and  Troihis. 

Tro.  Call  here  my  varlet;   I'll  unarm  again: 

Why  should  I  war  without  the  walls  of  Troy, 
That  find  such  cruel  battle  here  within? 
Each  Trojan  that  is  master  of  his  heart. 
Let  him  to  field;  Troilus,  alas,  hath  none! 

Pan.  Will  this  gear  ne'er  be  mended? 

Tro.  The  Greeks  are  strong  and  skilful  to  their  strength, 
Fierce  to  their  skill  and  to  their  fierceness  valiant, 
But  I  am  weaker  than  a  woman's  tear, 
Tamer  than  sleep,  fonder  than  ignorance,  10 

Less  valiant  than  the  virgin  in  the  night. 
And  skilless  as  unpractised  infancy. 

Pan.  Well,  I  have  told  you  enough  of  this:  for  my 
part,  I  '11  not  meddle  nor  make  no  farther.  He 
that  will  have  a  cake  out  of  the  wheat  must 
needs  tarry  the  grinding. 

Tro.  Have  I  not  tarried? 

Pan.  Ay,  the  grinding;   but  you  must  tarry  the  bolting. 

26 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  i. 

Tro.  Have  I  not  tarried  ? 

Pan.  Ay,  the  bolting ;   but  you  must  tarry  the  leavening. 

Tro.  Still  have  I  tarried.  21 

Pan.  Ay,  to  the  leavening ;  but  here  's  yet  in  the  word 
*  hereafter,'  the  kneading,  the  making  of  the  cake, 
the  heating  of  the  oven,  and  the  baking;  nay, 
you  must  stay  the  cooling  too,  or  you  may  chance 
to  burn  your  lips. 

Tro,  Patience  herself,  what  goddess  e'er  she  be. 
Doth  lesser  blench  at  sufferance  than  I  do. 
At  Priam's  royal  table  do  1  sit ; 
And  when  fair  Cressid  comes  into  my  thoughts, — 
So,    traitor ! — '  When    she    comes  ! ' — When    is    she 
thence?  31 

Pan.  Well,  she  looked  yesternight  fairer  than  ever  I 
saw  her  look,  or  any  woman  else. 

Tro.  I  was. about  to  tell  thee: — when.my  heart. 
As  wedged  with  a  sigh,  would  rive  in  twain, 
Lest  Hector  or  my  father  should  perceive  me, 
I. have,  as  when  the  sun  doth  light  a  storm. 
Buried  this  sigh  in  wrinkle  of  a  smile : 
But  sorrow,  that  is  crouch'd  in  seeming  gladness. 
Is  like  that  mirth  fate  turns  to  sudden  sadness.        40 

Pan.  An  her  hair  were  not  somewhat  darker  than 
Helen's — well,  go  to — there  were  no  more 
comparison  between  the  women :  but,  for  my 
part,  she  is  my  kinswoman  ;  I  would  not,  as 
they  term  it,  praise  her :  but  I  would  somebody 
had  heard  her  talk  yesterday,  as  I  did.  I  will 
not  dispraise  your  sister  Cassandra's  wit,  but — ' 

Tro.  O  Pandarus  !  I  tell  thee,  Pandarus, — 

When  I  do  tell  thee,  there  my  hopes  lie  drown'd, 
27 


Act  I.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Reply  not  in  how  many  fathoms  deep  50 

They  He  indrench'd.    I  tell  thee,  I  am  mad 

In  Cressld's  love :  thou  answer'st  '  she  is  fair  ' ; 

Pour'st  in  the  open  ulcer  of  my  heart 

Her  eyes,  her  hair,  her  cheek,  her  gait,  her  voice, 

Handiest  in  thy  discourse,  O,  that  her  hand. 

In  whose  comparison  all  whites  are  ink 

Writing  their  own  reproach,  to  whose  soft  seizure 

The  cygnet's  down  is  harsh,  and  spirit  of  sense 

Hard  as  the  palm  of  ploughman  :  this  thou  tell'st  me, 

As  true  thou  tell'st  me,  when  I  say  I  love  her ;        60 

But,  saying  thus,  instead  of  oil  and  balm. 

Thou  lay'st  in  every  gash  that  love  hath  given  me 

The  knife  that  made  it. 

Pan.  I  speak  no  more  than  truth. 

Tro.  Thou  dost  not  speak  so  much. 

Pan.  Faith,  I  '11  not  meddle  in  't.  Let  her  be  as 
she  is :  if  she  be  fair,  'tis  the  better  for  her ;  an 
she  be  not,  she  has  the  mends  in  her  own  hands. 

Tro.  Good  Pandarus,  how  now,  Pandarus! 

Pan.  I   have  had   my   labour   for   my   travail;    ill-     70 
thought  on  of  her,  and  ill-thought  on  of  you : 
gone  between  and  between,  but  small  thanks  for 
my  labour. 

Tro.  What,  art  thou  angry,  Pandarus?  what,  with 
me? 

Pan.  Because  she  's  kin  to  me,  therefore  she  's  not 
so  fair  as  Helen :  an  she  were  not  kin  to  me, 
she  would  be  as  fair  on  Friday  as  Helen  is  on 
Sunday.  But  what  care  I?  I  care  not  an  she 
were  a  black-a-moor ;  'tis  all  one  to  me.  80 

Tro.  Say  I  she  is  not  fair? 

28 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  i. 

Pan.  I  do  not  care  whether  you  do  or  no.  She  's  a 
fool  to  stay  behind  her  father;  let  her  to  the 
Greeks ;  and  so  I  '11  tell  her  the  next  time  I 
see  her :  for  my  part,  I  '11  meddle  nor  make  no 
more  i'  the  matter. 

Tro.  Pandarus, — 

Pan.  Not  I. 

Tro.  Sweet  Pandarus, — 

Pan.  Pray  you,  speak  no  more  to  me:   I  will  leave    90 
all  as  I  found  it,  and  there  an  end.  [Exit.  An  alarum, 

Tro.  Peace,  you  ungracious  clamours !  peace,  rude  sounds ! 
Fools  on  both  sides !     Helen  must  needs  be  fair, 
When  with  your  blood  you  daily  paint  her  thus. 
I  cannot  fight  upon  this  argument ; 
It  is  too  starved  a  subject  for  my  sword. 
But  Pandarus — O  gods,  how  do  you  plague  me ! 
I  cannot  come  to  Cressid  but  by  Pandar; 
And  he  's  as  tetchy  to  be  woo' d  to  woo 
As  she  is  stubborn-chaste  against  all  suit.  100 

Tell  me,  Apollo,  for  thy  Daphne's  love, 
What  Cressid  is,  what  Pandar,  and  what  we. 
Her  bed  is  India ;  there  she  lies,  a  pearl : 
Between  our  Ilium  and  where  she  resides, 
Let  it  be  call'd  the  wild  and  wandering  flood, 
Ourself  the  merchant,  and  this  sailing  Pandar 
Our  doubtful  hope,  our  convoy  and  our  bark. 

'Alarum.     Enter  ^neas. 

^ne.  How  now.  Prince  Troilus  !  wherefore  not  afield  ? 

Tro.  Because  not  there :  this  woman's  answer  sorts, 

For  womanish  it  is  to  be  from  thence.  no 

What  news,  ^neas,  from  the  field  to-day  ? 
29 


Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

^ne.  That  Paris  is  returned  home,  and  hurt. 
Tro.  By  whom,  ^neas  ? 

^ne.  Troilus,  by  Menelaus. 

Tro.  Let  Paris  bleed :   'tis  but  a  scar  to  scorn ; 

Paris  is  gored  with  Menelaus'  horn.  [Alarum, 

j^ne.  Hark,  what  good  sport  is  out  of  town  to-day ! 
Tro.  Better  at  home,  if  '  w^ould  I  might '  were  '  may.' 

But  to  the  sport  abroad :  are  you  bound  thither  ? 
uSne.  In  all  swift  haste. 
Tro.  Come,  go  we  then  together. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene  II. 

The  same.     A  street. 
Enter  Cressida  and  Alexander  her  man* 

Cres.  Who  were  those  went  by  ? 

Alex.  Queen  Hecuba  and  Helen. 

Cres.  And  whither  go  they  ? 

Alex.  Up  to  the  eastern  tower. 

Whose  height  commands  as  subject  all  the  vale, 
To  see  the  battle.     Hector,  whose  patience 
Is  as  a  virtue  fix'd,  to-day  was  moved : 
He  chid  Andromache  and  struck  his  armourer ; 
And,  like  as  there  were  husbandry  in  war. 
Before  the  sun  rose  he  was  harnessM  light. 
And  to  the  field  goes  he ;  where  every  flower 
Did,  as  a  prophet,  weep  what  it  foresaw  lo 

In  Hector's  wrath. 

Cres.  What  was  his  cause  of  anger  ? 

Alex.  The  noise  goes,  this :  there  is  among  the  Greeks 
A  lord  of  Trojan  blood,  nephew  to  Hector; 
They  call  him  Ajax. 

30 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  ii. 

Cres.  Good  ;   and  what  of  him  ? 

Alex.  They  say  he  is  a  very  man  per  se, 
And  stands  alone. 

Cres.  So  do  all  men,  unless  they  are  drunk,  sick,  or 
have  no  legs. 

Alex.  This  man,  lady,  hath  robbed  many  beasts  of 

their  particular  additions ;  he  is  as  valiant  as  20 
the  lion,  churlish  as  the  bear,  slow  as  the 
elephant:  a  man  into  whom  nature  hath  so 
crowded  humours  that  his  valour  is  crushed  into 
folly,  his  folly  sauced  with  discretion :  there  is 
no  man  hath  a  virtue  that  he  hath  not  a  glimpse 
of,  nor  any  man  an  attaint  but  he  carries  some 
stain  of  it :  he  is  melancholy  without  cause  and 
merry  against  the  hair:  he  hath  the  joints  of 
every  thing ;  but  every  thing  so  out  of  joint  that 
he  is  a  gouty  Briareus,  many  hands  and  no  use,  30 
or  purblind  Argus,  all  eyes  and  no  sight. 

Cres.  But  how  should  this  man,  that  makes  me  smile, 
make  Hector  angry  ? 

Alex.  They  say  he  yesterday  coped  Hector  in  the 
battle  and  struck  him  down,  the  disdain  and 
shame  whereof  hath  ever  since  kept  Hector 
fasting  and  waking. 

Enter  Pan  darns. 

Cres.  Who  comes  here? 

Alex.  Madam,  your  uncle  Pandarus. 

Cres.  Hector  's  a  gallant  man.  40 

Alex.  As  may  be  in  the  world,  lady. 

Pan.  What 's  that?  what 's  that? 

Cres.  Good  morrow,  uncle  Pandarus. 

31 


Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Pan.  Good  morrow,  cousin  Cressid:  what  do  you 
talk  of?  Good  morrow,  Alexander.  How  do 
you,  cousin  ?    When  were  you  at  Ilium  ? 

Cres.  This  morning,  uncle. 

Pan.  What  were  you  talking  of  when  I  came  ?  Was 
Hector  armed  and  gone  ere  you  came  to  Ilium  ? 
Helen  was  not  up,  was  she  ?  50 

Cres.  Hector  was  gone ;  but  Helen  was  not  up. 

Pan.  E'en  so :  Hector  was  stirring  early. 

Crcs.  That  were  we  talking  of,  and  of  his  anger. 

Pan.  Was  he  angry  ? 

Cres.  So  he  says  here. 

Pan.  True,  he  was  so ;  I  know  the  cause  too ;  he  '11 
lay  about  him  to-day,  I  can  tell  them  that :  and 
there  's  Troilus  will  not  come  far  behind  him ; 
let  them  take  heed  of  Troilus,  I  can  tell  them 
that  too.  60 

Cres.  What,  is  he  angry  too  ? 

Pan.  Who,  Troilus?  Troilus  is  the  better  man  of 
the  two. 

Cres.  O  Jupiter !  there  's  no  comparison. 

Pan.  What,  not  between  Troilus  and  Hector?  Do 
you  know  a  man  if  you  see  him  ? 

Cres.  Ay,  if  I  ever  saw  him  before  and  knew  him. 

Pan.  Well,  I  say  Troilus  is  Troilus. 

Cres.  Then  you  say  as  I  say;   for,  I  am  sure,  he  is 

not  Hector.  70 

Pan.  No,  nor  Hector  is  not  Troilus  in  some  degrees. 

Cres.  'Tis  just  to  each  of  them;  he  is  himself. 

Pan.  Himself !    Alas,  poor  Troilus  !   I  would  he  were. 

Cres.  So  he  is. 

Pan,  Condition,  I  had  gone  barefoot  to  India. 

32 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  ii. 

Cres,  He  is  not  Hector. 

Pan.  Himself !   no,  he  's  not  himself :  would  a'  were 
himself!     Well,  the  gods  are  above;   time  must 
friend  or  end:   well,  Troilus,  well,  I  would  my 
heart  were  in  her  body!     No,  Hector  is  not  a     80 
better  man  than  Troilus. 

Cres.  Excuse  me. 

Pan.  He  is  elder. 

Cres.  Pardon  me,  pardon  me. 

Pan.  Th'  other  's  not  come  to  't ;  you  shall  tell  me 
another  tale,  when  th'  other  's  come  to  't.  Hector 
shall  not  have  his  wit  this  year. 

Cres.  He  shall  not  need  it,  if  he  have  his  own. 

Pan.  Nor  his  qualities. 

Cres.  No  matter.  90 

Pan.  Nor  his  beauty. 

Cres.  'Twould  not  become  him ;  his  own  's  better. 

Pan.  You  have  no  judgement,  niece:  Helen  herself 
swore  th'  other  day,  that  Troilus,  for  a  brown 
favour — for  so  'tis,  I  must  confess, — not  brown 
neither, — 

Cres.  No,  but  brown. 
,Pan.  Faith,  to  say  truth,  brown  and  not  brown. 

Cres.  To  say  the  truth,  true  and  not  true. 

Pan.  She  praised  his  complexion  above  Paris.  100 

Cres.  Why,  Paris  hath  colour  enough. 

Pan.  So  he  has. 

Cres.  Then  Troilus  should  have  too  much :  if  she 
praised  him  above,  his  complexion  is  higher 
than  his ;  he  having  colour  enough,  and  the 
other  higher,  is  too  flaming  a  praise  for  a  good 
complexion.      I    had     as    lief    Helen's    golden 

33 


Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

tongue  had   commended   Troilus   for   a   copper 

nose. 
Pan.  I  swear  to  you,  I  think  Helen  loves  him  better  no 

than  Paris. 
Cres.  Then  she  's  a  merry  Greek  indeed. 
Pan.  Nay,  I  am  sure  she  does.     She  came  to  him  th' 

other   day   into   the   compassed   window, — and, 

you  know,  he  has  not  past  three  or  four  hairs  on 

his  chin, — 
Cres.  Indeed,  a  tapster's  arithmetic  may  soon  bring 

his  particulars  therein  to  a  total. 
Pan.  Why,  he  is  very  young :  and  yet  will  he,  within 

three  pound,  lift  as  much  as  his  brother  Hector.  120 
Cres.  Is  he  so  young  a  man  and  so  old  a  lifter? 
Pan.  But,   to  prove  to  you  that  Helen  loves  him: 

she  came  and  puts  me  her  white  hand  to  his 

cloven  chin, — 
Cres.  Juno  have  mercy !  how  came  it  cloven  ? 
Pan.  Why,  you  know,  'tis  dimpled :   I  think  his  smi- 
ling becomes  him  better  than  any  man  in  all 

Phrygia. 
Cres.  O,  he  smiles  valiantly. 

Pan.  Does  he  not?  130 

Cres.  O  yes,  an  'twere  a  cloud  in  autumn. 
Pan.  Why,  go  to,  then:    but  to  prove  to  you  that 

Helen  loves  Troilus, — 
Cres.  Troilus  will  stand  to  the  proof,  if  you  '11  prove 

it  so. 
Pan.  Troilus!    why,  he  esteems  her  no  more  than  I 

esteem  an  addle  &gg. 
Cres.  If  you  love  an  addle  ^.gg  as  well  as  you  love 

an  idle  head,  you  would  eat  chickens  i'  the  shell. 

34 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  ii. 

Pan.  I  cannot  choose  but  laugh,  to  think  how  she  140 
tickled  his  chin;    indeed,  she  has  a  marvellous 
white  hand,  I  must  needs  confess, — 

Cres.  Without  the  rack. 

Pan.  And  she  takes  upon  her  to  spy  a  white  hair  on 
his  chin. 

Cres.  Alas,  poor  chin !   many  a  wart  is  richer. 

Pan.  But  there  was  such  laughing!     Queen  Hecuba 
laughed,  that  her  eyes  ran  o'er. 

.Cres.  With  mill-stones. 

Pan.  And  Cassandra  laughed.  150 

Cres.  But  there  was  more  temperate  fire  under  the 
pot  of  her  eyes :  did  her  eyes  run  o'er  too  ? 

Pan.  And  Hector  laughed. 

Cres.  And  what  was  all  this  laughing  ? 

Pan.  Marry,  at  the  white  hair  that  Helen  spied  on 
Troilus'  chin. 

Cres.  An  't  had  been  a  green  hair,   I  should  have 
laughed  too. 

Pan.  They  laughed  not  so  much  at  the  hair  as  at  his 

pretty  answer.  160 

Cres.  What  was  his  answer? 

Pan.  Quoth  she,  '  Here  's  but  two  and  fifty  hairs  on 
your  chin,  and  one  of  them  is  white.' 

Cres.  This  is  her  question. 

Pan.  That 's  true ;  make  no  question  of  that.  '  Two 
and  fifty  hairs,'  quoth  he,  '  and  one  white :  that 
white  hair  is  my  father,  and  all  the  rest  are  his 
sons.'  '  Jupiter ! '  quoth  she,  '  which  of  these 
hairs  is  Paris  my  husband  ?  '  '  The  forked  one,' 
quoth  he,  '  pluck  't  out,  and  give  it  him.'  But  170 
there  was  such  laughing !  and  Helen  so  blushed, 

35 


Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

and  Paris  so  chafed,  and  all  the  rest  so  laughed, 

that  it  passed. 
Cres.  So  let  it  now ;    for  it  has  been  a  great  while 

going  by. 
Pan.  Well,   cousin,   I   told   you   a  thing  yesterday; 

think  on  't. 
Cres.  So  I  do. 
Paji.  I  '11  be  sworn  'tis  true ;   he  will  weep  you,  an 

'twere  a  man  born  in  April.  i8o 

Cres.  And  I  '11  spring  up  in  his  tears,  an  'twere  a 

nettle  against  May.  [A  retreat  sounded. 

Pan.  Hark!    they  are  coming  from  the  field:    shall 

we  stand  up  here,  and  see  them  as  they  pass 

toward    Ilium?     good    niece,    do,    sweet    niece 

Cressida. 
Cres,  At  your  pleasure. 
Pan.  Here,   here,   here 's   an   excellent   place ;    here 

we  may  see  most  bravely :   I  '11  tell  you  them  all 

by  their  names  as  they  pass  by ;  but  mark  Troilus  190 

above  the  rest. 

^neas  passes. 

Cres.  Speak  not  so  loud. 

Pan.  That 's  7Enea.s :  is  not  that  a  brave  man  ?  he  's 

one  of  the  flowers  of  Troy,  I  can  tell  you :   but 

mark  Troilus ;  you  shall  see  anon. 
Cres.  Who's  that? 

Antenor  passes. 

Pan.  That's  Antenor:  he  has  a  shrevv^d  wit,  I  can 
tell  you ;  and  he  's  a  man  good  enough :  he 's 
one  o'  the  soundest  judgements  in  Troy,  whoso- 
ever, and  a  proper  man  of  person.    When  comes  200 

36 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  ii. 

Troilus  ?    I  '11  show  you  Troilus  anon  :  if  he  see 

me,  you  shall  see  him  nod  at  me. 
Cres.  Will  he  give  you  the  nod  ? 
Fan.  You  shall  see. 
Cres.  If  he  do,  the  rich  shall  have  more. 

Hector  passes. 

Pan.  That 's  Hector,  that,  that,  look  you,  that ;  there  's 
a  fellow !  Go  thy  way,  Hector !  There  's  a  brave 
man,  niece.  O  brave  Hector!  Look  how  he 
looks!  there 'sacountenance!  is 't  not  a  brave  man? 

Cres.  O,  a  brave  man  !  210 

Pan.  Is  a'  not?  it  does  a  man's  heart  good.  Look 
you  what  hacks  are  on  his  helmet!  look  you 
yonder,  do  you  see  ?  look  you  there :  there 's 
no  jesting;  there's  laying  on,  take 't  off  who 
will,  as  they  say :  there  be  hacks ! 

Cres.  Be  those  with  swords  ? 

Pan.  Swords !  any  thing,  he  cares  not ;  an  the  devil 
come  to  him,  it 's  all  one :  by  God's  lid,  it  does 
one's  heart  good.  Yonder  comes  Paris,  yonder 
comes  Paris.  220 

Paris  passes. 

Look  ye  yonder,  niece ;  is  't  not  a  gallant  man 
too,  is  't  not  ?  Why,  this  is  brave  now.  Who 
said  he  came  hurt  home  to-day  ?  he  's  not  hurt : 
why,  this  will  do  Helen's  heart  good  now,  ha! 
Would  I  could  see  Troilus  now!  you  shall  see 
Troilus  anon. 
Cres.  Who's  that? 

Helenas  passes. 
Pan.  That 's  Helenus :    I  marvel  where  Troilus  is. 

37 


Act  I.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

That 's  Helenus.  I  think  he  went  not  forth  to- 
day.   That 's  Helenus.  230 

Cres.  Can  Helenus  fight,  uncle  ? 

Paji.  Helenus !  no ;  yes,  he  '11  fight  indifferent  well. 
I  marvel  where  Troilus  is.  Hark!  do  you  not 
hear  the  people  cry  'Troilus'  ?  Helenus  is  a  priest. 

Cres.  What  sneaking  fellow  comes  yonder? 

Troilus  passes. 

Pan.  Where  ?  yonder  ?  That 's  Deiphobus.  'Tis 
Troilus  !  there  's  a  man,  niece !  Hem !  Brave 
Troilus  !   the  prince  of  chivalry  ! 

Cres.  Peace,  for  shame,  peace ! 

Pan.  Mark  him ;  note  him.  O  brave  Troilus !  240 
Look  well  upon  him,  niece;  look  you  how  his 
sword  is  bloodied,  and  his  helm  more  hacked 
than  Hector's;  and  how  he  looks,  and  how  he 
goes !  O  admirable  youth !  he  never  saw  three- 
and-twenty.  Go  thy  way,  Troilus,  go  thy  way ! 
Had  I  a  sister  were  a  grace,  or  a  daughter 
a  goddess,  he  should  take  his  choice.  O 
admirable  man  !  Paris  ?  Paris  is  dirt  to  him  ; 
and,  I  warrant,  Helen,  to  change,  would  give  an 
eye  to  boot.  250 

Common  Soldiers  pass. 

Cres.  Here  come  more. 

Pan.  Asses,  fools,  dolts !  chaff  and  bran,  chaff  and 
bran !  porridge  after  meat !  I  could  live  and 
die  i'  the  eyes  of  Troilus.  Ne'er  look,  ne'er 
look ;  the  eagles  are  gone :  crows  and  daws, 
crows  and  daws !  I  had  rather  be  such  a  man 
as  Troilus  than  Agamemnon  and  all  Greece. 

38 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  ii. 

Cres.  There  Is  among  the  Greeks 'Achilles,  a  better 
man  than  Troilus. 

Pan.  Achilles  !   a  drayman,  a  porter,  a  very  camel.        260 

Cres.  Well,  well. 

Pan,  Well,  well!  Why,  have  you  any  discretion? 
have  you  any  eyes?  do  you  know  what  a  man 
is?  Is  not  birth,  beauty,  good  shape,  discourse, 
manhood,  learning,  gentleness,  virtue,  youth, 
liberality,  and  such  like,  the  spice  and  salt  that 
season  a  man  ? 

Cres.  Ay,  a  minced  man :  and  then  to  be  baked  with 
no  date  in  the  pie,  for  then  the  man's  date  is  out. 

Pan.  You  are  such  a  woman !  one  knows  not  at  what  270 
ward  you  lie. 

Cres.  Upon  my  back,  to  defend  my  belly ;  upon  my 
wit,  to  defend  my  wiles;  upon  my  secrecy,  to 
defend  mine  honesty ;  my  mask,  to  defend 
my  beauty;  and  you,  to  defend  all  these:  and 
at  all  these  wards  I  lie,  at  a  thousand 
watches. 

Pan.  Say  one  of  your  watches. 

Cres.  Nay,  I  '11  watch  you  for  that ;   and  that 's  one 

of  the  chiefest  of  them  too:    if  I  cannot  ward  280 
what  I  would  not  have  hit,  I  can  watch  you  for 
telling  how  I  took  the  blow ;  unless  it  swell  past 
hiding,  and  then  it 's  past  watching. 

Pan.  You  are  such  another! 

Enter  Troilus' s  Boy. 

Boy.  Sir,  my  lord  would  instantly  speak  with  you. 

Pan.  Where? 

Boy.  At  your  own  house ;  there  he  unarms  him. 

39 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Pan.  Good  boy,  tell  him  I  come.      [Exit  Boy.]      I 
doubt  he  be  hurt.    Fare  ye  well,  good  niece. 

Cres.  Adieu,  uncle.  290 

Pan.  I  will  be  with  you,  niece,  by  and  by. 

Cres.  To  bring,  uncle  ? 

Pan.  Ay,  a  token  from  Troilus. 

Cres.  By  the  same  token,  you  are  a  bawd. 

[Exeunt  Pandariis. 
Words,  vows,  gifts,  tears,  and  love's  full  sacrifice, 
He  offers  in  another's  enterprise : 
But  more  in  Troilus  thousand  fold  I  see 
Than  in  the  glass  of  Pandar's  praise  may  be ; 
Yet  hold  I  off.    Women  are  angels,  wooing :         299 
Things  won  are  done ;  joy's  soul  lies  in  the  doing: 
That  she  beloved  knows  nought  that  knows  not  this : 
Men  prize  the  thing  ungain'd  more  than  it  is : 
That  she  was  never  yet  that  ever  knew 
Love  got  so  sweet  as  when  desire  did  sue : 
Therefore  this  maxim  out  of  love  I  teach : 
Achievement  is  command ;   ungain'd,  beseech. 
Then  though  my  heart's  content  firm  love  doth  bear, 
Nothing  of  that  shall  from  mine  eyes  appear. 

{Exeunt. 

Scene  III. 

The  Grecian  camp.    Before  Agamemnon's  tent. 

Sennet.     Enter  Agamemjton,  Nestor,  Ulysses,  Menelaus, 
with  others. 

Agam.  Princes, 

What  grief  hath  set  the  jaundice  on  your  cheeks? 
The  ample  proposition  that  hope  makes 
In  all  designs  begun  on  earth  below 
40 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  iii. 

Fails  in  the  promised  largeness :  checks  and  disasters 
Grow  in  the  veins  of  actions  highest  rear'd, 
As  knots,  by  the  conflux  of  meeting  sap, 
Infect  the  sound  pine  and  divert  his  grain 
Tortive  and  errant  from  his  course  of  growth. 
Nor,  princes,  is  it  matter  new  to  us  lo 

That  we  come  short  of  our  suppose  so  far 
That  after  seven  years'  siege  yet  Troy  walls  stand ; 
Sith  every  action  that  hath  gone  before. 
Whereof  we  have  record,  trial  did  draw 
Bias  and  thwart,  not  answering  the  aim 
And  that  unbodied  figure  of  the  thought 
That  gave  't  surmised  shape.    Why  then,  you  princes. 
Do  you  with  cheeks  abash'd  behold  our  works, 
And  call  them  shames  ?  which  are  indeed  nought  else 
But  the  protractive  trials  of  great  Jove  20 

To  find  persistive  constancy  in  men : 
The  fineness  of  which  metal  is  not  found 
In  fortune's  love ;   for  then  the  bold  and  coward, 
The  wise  and  fool,  the  artist  and  unread, 
The  hard  and  soft,  seem  all  affined  and  kin : 
But  in  the  wind  and  tempest  of  her  frown, 
Distinction  with  a  broad  and  powerful  fan. 
Puffing  at  all,  winnows  the  light  away, 
And  what  hath  mass  or  matter,  by  itself 
Lies  rich  in  virtue  and  unmingled.  30 

Nest.  With  due  observance  of  thy  godlike  seat, 
Great  Agamemnon,  Nestor  shall  apply 
Thy  latest  words.    In  the  reproof  of  chance 
Lies  the  true  proof  of  men  :  the  sea  being  smooth, 
How  many  shallow  bauble  boats  dare  sail 
Upon  her  patient  breast,  m.aking  their  way 

41 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

With  those  of  nobler  bulk ! 

But  let  the  ruffian  Boreas  once  enrage 

The  gentle  Thetis,  and  anon  behold 

The  strong-ribb'd  bark  through  liquid  mountains  cut, 

Bounding  between  the  two  moist  elements,  41 

Like  Perseus'  horse :  where  's  then  the  saucy  boat, 

Whose  weak  untimber'd  sides  but  even  now 

Co-rivall'd  greatness  ?   either  to  harbour  fled. 

Or  made  a  toast  for  Neptune.     Even  so 

Doth  valour's  show  and  valour's  worth  divide 

In  storms  of  fortune :  for  in  her  ray  and  brightness 

The  herd  hath  more  annoyance  by  the  breese 

Than  by  the  tiger;   but- when  the  splitting  wind 

Makes  flexible  the  knees  of  knotted  oaks,  50 

And  flies  fled  under  shade,  why  then  the  thing  of 

courage 
As  roused  with  rage  with  rage  doth  sympathize, 
And  with  an  accent  tuned  in  self-same  key 
Retorts  to  chiding  fortune. 
Ulyss.  Agamemnon, 

Thou  great  commander,  nerve  and  bone  of  Greece, 

Heart  of  our  numbers,  soul  and  only  spirit, 

In  whom  the  tempers  and  the  minds  of  all 

Should  be  shut  up,  hear  what  Ulysses  speaks. 

Besides  the  applause  and  approbation 

The  which,   [To  Agamemnon]  most  mighty  for  thy 

place  and  sway,  60 

[To    Nestor]    And    thou    most    reverend    for    thy 

stretch'd-out  life, 
I  give  to  both  your  speeches,  which  were  such 
As  Agamemnon  and  the  hand  of  Greece 
Should  hold  up  high  in  brass,  and  such  again 
42 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  iii. 

As  venerable  Nestor,  hatch'd  in  silver, 
Should  with  a  bond  of  air,  strong  as  the  axletree 
On  which  heaven  rides,  knit  all  the  Greekish  ears 
To  his  experienced  tongue,  yet  let  it  please  both. 
Thou  great,  and  wise,  to  hear  Ulysses  speak. 

Agam.  Speak,  Prince  of  Ithaca ;  and  be  't  of  less  expect 
That  matter  needless,  of  importless  burthen,  71 

Divide  thy  lips,  than  we  are  confident. 
When  rank  Thersites  opes  his  mastic  jaws, 
We  shall  hear  music,  wit  and  oracle. 

Ulyss.  Troy,  yet  upon  his  basis,  had  been  down. 

And  the  great  Hector's  sword  had  lack'd  a  master, 
But  for  these  instances. 
The  specialty  of  rule  hath  been  neglected: 
Vnd,  look,  how  many  Grecian  tents  do  stand 
Hollow  upon  this  plain,  so  many  hollow  factions. 
When  that  the  general  is  not  like  the  hive  81 

To  whom  the  foragers  shall  all  repair. 
What  honey  is  expected?    Degree  being  vizarded. 
The  unworthiest  shows  as  fairly  in  the  mask. 
The  heavens  themselves,  the  planets  and  this  centre, 
Observe  degree,  priority  and  place, 
Insisture,  course,  proportion,  season,  form, 
Office  and  custom,  in  all  line  of  order : 
And  therefore  is  the  glorious  planet  Sol 
In  noble  eminence  enthroned  and  sphered  90 

Amidst  the  other ;  whose  medicinable  eye 
Corrects  the  ill  aspects  of  planets  evil, 
And  posts  like  the  commandment  of  a  king. 
Sans  check  to  good  and  bad :  but  when  the  planets 
In  evil  mixture  to  disorder  wander, 
What  plagues  and  what  portents,  what  mutiny, 

43 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

What  raging  of  the  sea,  shaking  of  earth, 

Commotion  in  the  winds,  frights,  changes,  horrors. 

Divert  and  crack,  rend  and  deracinate 

The  unity  and  married  calm  of  states  loo 

Quite  from  their  fixure !     O,  when  degree  is  shaked. 

Which  is  the  ladder  to  all  high  designs, 

The  enterprise  is  sick!     How  could  communities. 

Degrees  in  schools  and  brotherhoods  in  cities, 

Peaceful  commerce  from  dividable  shores. 

The  primogenitive  and  due  of  birth. 

Prerogative  of  age,  crowns,  sceptres,  laurels, 

But  by  degree,  stand  in  authentic  place? 

Take  but  degree  away,  untune  that  string, 

And,  hark,  what  discord  follows !  each  thing  meets 

In  mere  oppugnancy :  the  bounded  waters  1 1 1 

Should  lift  their  bosoms  higher  than  the  shores, 

And  make  a  sop  of  all  this  solid  globe : 

Strength  should  be  lord  of  imbecility. 

And  the  rude  son  should  strike  his  father  dead : 

Force  should  be  right ;  or  rather,  right  and  wrong. 

Between  whose  endless  jar  justice  resides. 

Should  lose  their  names,  and  so  should  justice  too. 

Then  every  thing  includes  itself  in  power, 

Power  into  will,  will  into  appetite ;  120 

And  appetite,  an  universal  w^olf. 

So  doubly  seconded  with  will  and  power, 

Must  make  perforce  an  universal  prey. 

And  last  eat  up  himself.     Great  Agamemnon, 

This  chaos,  when  degree  is  suffocate, 

Follows  the  choking. 

And  this  neglection  of  degree  it  is 

That  by  a  pace  goes  backward,  with  a  purpose 

44 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  iii. 

It  hath  to  dimb.     The  general 's  disdain'd 

By  him  one  step  below;   he  by  the  next;  130 

That  next  by  him  beneath :  so  every  step, 

Exampled  by  the  first  pace  that  is  sick 

Of  his  superior,  grows  to  an  envious  fever 

Of  pale  and  bloodless  emulation : 

And  'tis  this  fever  that  keeps  Troy  on  foot, 

Not  her  own  sinews.     To  end  a  tale  of  length, 

Troy  in  our  weakness  stands,  not  in  her  strength. 

Nest.  Most  wisely  hath  Ulysses  here  discover'd 
The  fever  whereof  all  our  power  is  sick. 

Agam.  The  nature  of  the  sickness  found,  Ulysses,      140 
What  is  the  remedy  ? 

Ulyss.  The  great  Achilles,  whom  opinion  crowns 
The  sinew  and  the  forehand  of  our  host. 
Having  his  ear  full  of  his  airy  fame. 
Grows  dainty  of  his  worth,  and  in  his  tent 
Lies  mocking  our  designs :    with  him,  Patroclus, 
Upon  a  lazy  bed,  the  livelong  day 
Breaks  scurril  jests; 

And  with  ridiculous  and  awkward  action, 
Which,  slanderer,  he  imitation  calls,  150 

He  pageants  us.     Sometime,  great  Agamemnon, 
Thy  topless  deputation  he  puts  on ; 
And,  like  a  strutting  player,  whose  conceit 
Lies  in  his  hamstring,  and  doth  think  it  rich 
To  hear  the  wooden  dialogue  and  sound 
Twixt  his  stretch'd  footing  and  the  scaffoldage. 
Such  to-be-pitied  and  o'er- wrested  seeming 
He  acts  thy  greatness  in :   and  when  he  speaks, 
'Tis  like  a  chime  a-mending ;   with  terms  unsquared. 
Which,  from  the  tongue  o^  roaring  Typhon  dropp'd, 

45 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Would  seem  hyperboles.     At  this  fusty  stuff,       i6i 
The  large  Achilles,  on  his  press'd  bed  lolling, 
From  his  deep  chest  laughs  out  a  loud  applause ; 
Cries  'Excellent!   'tis  Agamemnon  just. 
Now  play  me  Nestor;  hem,  and  stroke  thy  beard, 
As  he  being  dress'd  to  some  oration.' 
That 's  done ;  as  near  as  the  extremest  ends 
Of  parallels,  as  like  as  Vulcan  and  his  wife : 
Yet  god  Achilles  still  cries  '  Excellent ! 
'Tis  Nestor  right.     Now  play  him  me,  Patroclus, 
Arming  to  answer  in  a  night  alarm.'  171 

And  then,  forsooth,  the  faint  defects  of  age 
Must  be  the  scene  of  mirth ;  to  cough  and  spit. 
And,  with  a  palsy  fumbling  on  his  gorget. 
Shake  in  and  out  the  rivet :  and  at  this  sport 
Sir  Valour  dies ;   cries  '  O,  enough,  Patroclus ; 
Or  give  me  ribs  of  steel !  I  shall  split  all 
In  pleasure  of  my  spleen.'     And  in  this  fashion. 
All  our  abilities,  gifts,  natures,  shapes, 
Severals  and  generals  of  grace  exact,  180 

Achievements,  plots,  orders,  preventions. 
Excitements  to  the  field  or  speech  for  truce. 
Success  or  loss,  what  is  or  is  not,  serves 
As  stuff  for  these  two  to  make  paradoxes. 
Nest.  And  in  the  imitation  of  these  twain, 
Who,  as  Ulysses  says,  opinion  crowns 
With  an  imperial  voice,  many  are  infect. 
Ajax  is  grown  self-will'd,  and  bears  his  head 
In  such  a  rein,  in  full  as  proud  a  place 
As  broad  Achilles  ;   keeps  his  tent  like  him ;  190 

Makes  factious  feasts  ;   rails  on  our  state  of  war 
Bold  as  an  oracle,  and  sets  Thersites, 

46 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  iii. 

A  slave  whose  gall  coins  slanders  like  a  mint, 
To  match  us  in  comparisons  with  dirt, 
To  weaken  and  discredit  our  exposure, 
How  rank* soever  rounded  in  with  danger. 

Ulyss.  They  tax  our  policy  and  call  it  cowardice, 
Count  wisdom  as  no  member  of  the  war, 
Forestall  prescience,  and  esteem  no  act 
But  that  of  hand :  the  still  and  mental  parts  200 

That  do  contrive  how  many  hands  shall  strike 
When  fitness  calls  them  on,  and  know  by  measure 
Of  their  observant  toil  the  enemies'  weight, — 
Why,  this  hath  not  a  finger's  dignity ; 
They  call  this  bed-work,  mappery,  closet-war : 
So  that  the  ram  that  batters  down  the  wall. 
For  the  great  swing  and  rudeness  of  his  poise. 
They  place  before  his  hand  that  made  the  engine, 
Or  those  that  with  the  fineness  of  their  souls 
By  reason  guide  his  execution.  210 

N'cst.  Let  this  be  granted,  and  Achilles'  horse 

Makes  many  Thetis'  sons.  [Tticket. 

Agam.  What  trumpet?   look,  Menelaus. 

Men.  From  Troy. 

Enter  Mneas. 

Agam.  What  would  you  'fore  our  tent? 

^ne.  Is  this  great  Agamemnon's  tent,  I  pray  you? 

Agam.  Even  this. 

JEne.  May  one  that  is  a  herald  and  a  prince 

Do  a  fair  message  to  his  kingly  ears  ? 
Agam.  With  surety  stronger  than  Achilles'  arm  220 

'Fore  all  the  Greekish  heads,  which  with  one  voice 

Call  Agamemnon  head  and  general. 
^ne.  Fair  leave  and  large  security.     How  may 

47 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

A  stranger  to  chose  most  imperial  looks 
Know  them  from  eyes  of  other  mortals  ? 

Again.  How ! 

JEne.  Ay: 

I  ask,  that  I  might  waken  reverence, 

And  bid  the  cheek  be  ready  with  a  blush 

Modest  as  morning  when  she  coldly  eyes 

The  youthful  Phoebus :  230 

Which  is  that  god  in  office,  guiding  men? 

Which  is  the  high  and  mighty  Agamemnon? 

A  gam.  This  Trojan  scorns  us ;  or  the  men  of  Troy 
Are  ceremonious  courtiers. 

^ne.  Courtiers  as  free,  as  debonair,  unarm'd, 

As  bending  angels ;  that 's  their  fame  in  peace : 
But  when  they  would  seem  soldiers,  they  have  galls. 
Good  arms,  strong  joints,  true  swords ;   and,  Jove's 

accord. 
Nothing  so  full  of  heart.     But  peace,  ^neas, 
Peace,  Trojan  ;  lay  thy  finger  on  thy  lips  !  240 

The  worthiness  of  praise  distains  his  worth, 
If  that  the  praised  himself  bring  the  praise  forth : 
But  what  the  repining  enemy  commends. 
That  breath    fame   blows ;    that   praise,    sole   pure, 
transcends. 

Agam.  Sir,  you  of  Troy,  call  you  yourself  ^neas? 

^ne.  Ay,  Greek,  that  is  my  name. 

Agam.  What 's  your  affair,  I  pray  you  ? 

Mne.  Sir,  pardon;  'tis  for  Agamemnon's  ears. 

Agam.  He  hears  nought  privately  that  comes  from  Troy. 

JEne.  Nor  I  from  Troy  come  not  to  whisper  him  :       250 
I  bring  a  trumpet  to  awake  his  ear, 
To  set  his  sense  on  the  attentive  bent, 

48 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  L  Sc.  iii. 

And  then  to  speak. 

Agani.  Speak  frankly  as  the  wind; 

It  is  not  Agamemnon's  sleeping  hour : 
That  thou  shalt  know,  Trojan,  he  is  awake, 
He  tells  thee  so  himself. 

^ne.  Trumpet,  blow  loud, 

Send  thy  brass  voice  through  all  these  lazy  tents ; 
And  every  Greek  of  mettle,  let  him  know, 
What  Troy  means  fairly  shall  be  spoke  aloud. 

[Trumpet  sounds. 
We  have,  great  Agamemnon,  here  in  Troy  260 

A  prince  call'd  Hector — Priam  is  his  father — 
Who  in  this  dull  and  long-continued  truce 
Is  rusty  grown :  he  bade  me  take  a  trumpet. 
And  to  this  purpose  speak.     Kings,  princes,  lords! 
If  there  be  one  among  the  fair'st  of  Greece, 
That  holds  his  honour  higher  than  his  ease. 
That  seeks  his  praise  more  than  he  fears  his  peril, 
That  knows  his  valour  and  knows  not  his  fear. 
That  loves  his  mistress  more  than  in  confession 
With  truant  vows  to  her  own  lips  he  loves,  270 

And  dare  avow  her  beauty  and  her  worth 
In  other  arms  than  hers — to  him  this  challenge. 
Hector,  in  view  of  Trojans  and  of  Greeks, 
Shall  make  it  good,  or  do  his  best  to  do  it, 
He  hath  a  lady,  wiser,  fairer,  truer. 
Than  ever  Greek  did  compass  in  his  arms; 
And  will  to-morrow  with  his  trumpet  call 
Midway  between  your  tents  and  walls  of  Troy, 
To  rouse  a  Grecian  that  is  true  in  love: 
If  any  come,  Hector  shall  honour  him;  280 

If  none,  he  '11  say  in  Troy  when  he  retires, 

49 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

The  Grecian  dames  are  sunburnt  and  not  worth 
The  spHnter  of  a  lance.     Even  so  much. 

Again.  This  shall  be  told  our  lovers,  Lord  ^neas ; 
If  none  of  them  have  soul  in  such  a  kind, 
We  left  them  all  at  home :  but  we  are  soldiers ; 
And  may  that  soldier  a  mere  recreant  prove, 
That  means  not,  hath  not,  or  is  not  in  love! 
If  then  one  is,  or  hath,  or  means  to  be, 
That  one  meets  Hector;   if  none  else,  I  am  he.     290 

Nest.  Tell  him  of  Nestor,  one  that  was  a  man 

When  Hector's  grandsire  suck'd:  he   is  old  now; 

But  if  there  be  not  in  our  Grecian  host 

One  noble  man  that  hath  one  spark  of  fire, 

To  answer  for  his  love,  tell  him  from  me 

I  '11  hide  my  silver  beard  in  a  gold  beaver. 

And  in  my  vantbrace  put  this  wither'd  brawn, 

And  meeting  him  will  tell  him  that  my  lady 

Was  fairer  than  his  grandam,  and  as  chaste 

As  may  be  in  the  world :  his  youth  in  flood,  300 

I  '11  prove  this  truth  with  my  three  drops  of  blood. 

^ne.  Now  heavens  forbid  such  scarcity  of  youth ! 

Ulyss.  Amen. 

Agam,  Fair  Lord  ^neas,  let  me  touch  your  hand ; 
To  our  paviHon  shall  I  lead  you,  sir. 
Achilles  shall  have  word  of  this  intent ; 
So  shall  each  lord  of  Greece,  from  tent  to  tent : 
Yourself  shall  feast  with  us  before  you  go, 
And  find  the  welcome  of  a  noble  foe. 

[Exeunt  all  but  Ulysses  and  Nestor. 

Ulyss.  Nestor!  310 

Nest.  What  says  Ulysses  ? 

Ulyss.  I  have  a  young  conception  in  my  brain; 

SO 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  I.  Sc.  iii. 

Be  you  my  time  to  bring  it  to  some  shape. 

Nest.  What  is  't? 

Ulyss.  This  'tis : 

Blunt  wedges  rive  hard  knots:   the  seeded  pride 
That  hath  to  this  maturity  blown  up 
In  rank  Achilles  must  or  now  be  cropp'd, 
Or,  shedding,  breed  a  nursery  of  like  evil, 
To  overbulk  us  all. 

Nest.  Well,  and  how?  320 

Ulyss.  This  challenge  that  the  gallant  Hector  sends. 
However  it  is  spread  in  general  name, 
Relates  in  purpose  only  to  Achilles. 

Nest.  The  purpose  is  perspicuous  even  as  substance. 
Whose  grossness  Httle  characters  sum  up: 
And,  in  the  publication,  make  no  strain, 
But  that  Achilles,  were  his  brain  as  barren 
As  banks  of  Libya, — though,  Apollo  knows, 
'Tis  dry  enough — will,  with  great  speed  of  judgement, 
Ay,  with  celerity,  find  Hector's  purpose  330 

Pointing  on  him. 

Ulyss.  And  wake  him  to  the  answer,  think  you? 

Nest.  Yes,  'tis  most  meet:  who  may  you  else  oppose. 
That  can  from  Hector  bring  his  honour  off. 
If  not  Achilles?     Though  't  be  a  sportful  combat, 
Yet  in  this  trial  much  opinion  dwells; 
For  here  the  Trojans  taste  our  dear'st  repute 
With  their  finest  palate:  and  trust  to  me,  Ulysses, 
Our  imputation  shall  be  oddly  poised 
In  this  wild  action;  for  the  success,  340 

Although  particular,  shall  give  a  scantling 
Of  good  or  bad  unto  the  general; 
And  in  such  indexes,  although  small  pricks 

SI 


Act  I.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

To  their  subsequent  volumes,  there  is  seen 

The  baby  figure  of  the  giant  mass 

Of  things  to  come  at  large.     It  is  supposed 

He  that  meets  Hector  issues  from  our  choice: 

And  choice,  being  mutual  act  of  all  our  souls, 

Makes  merit  her  election,  and  doth  boil, 

As  'twere  from  forth  us  all,  a  man  distill'd  350 

Out  of  our  virtues;  who  miscarrying, 

What  heart  from  hence  receives  the  conquering  part, 

To  steel  a  strong  opinion  to  themselves? 

Which  entertain'd,  limbs  are  his  instruments, 

In  no  less  working  than  are  swords  and  bows 

Directive  by  the  limbs. 

Ulyss.  Give  pardon  to  my  speech ; 

Therefore  'tis  meet  Achilles  meet  not  Hector. 

Let  us,  like  merchants,  show  our  foulest  wares. 

And  think,  perchance,  they  '11  sell;  if  not,  360 

The  lustre  of  the  better  yet  to  show, 

Shall  show  the  better.     Do  not  consent 

That  ever  Hector  and  Achilles  meet ; 

For  both  our  honour  and  our  shame  in  this 

Are  dogg'd  with  two  strange  followers. 

Nest.  I  see  them  not  with  my  old  eyes :   what  are  they  ? 

Ulyss.  What  glory  our  Achilles  shares  from  Hector, 
Were  he  not  proud,  we  all  should  share  with  him: 
But  he  already  is  too  insolent; 

And  we  were  better  parch  in  Afric  sun  370 

Than  in  the  pride  and  salt  scorn  of  his  eyes. 
Should  he  'scape  Hector  fair:  if  he  were  foil'd, 
Why  then,  we  did  our  main  opinion  crush 
In  taint  of  our  best  man.    No,  make  a  lottery; 
And  by  device  let  blockish  Ajax  draw 

52 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  i. 

The  sort  to  fight  with  Hector :  among  ourselves 
Give  him  allowance  for  the  better  man ; 
For  that  will  physic  the  great  Myrmidon 
Who  broils  in  loud  applause,  and  make  him  fall 
His  crest  that  prouder  than  blue  Iris  bends.  380 

If  the  dull  brainless  Ajax  come  safe  off, 
We  '11  dress  him  up  in  voices  :  if  he  fail, 
Yet  go  we  under  our  opinion  still 
That  we  have  better  men.    But,  hit  or  miss, 
Our  project's  life  this  shape  of  sense  assumes, 
Ajax  employ'd  plucks  down  Achilles'  plumes. 
Nest.  Ulysses, 

Now  I  begin  to  relish  thy  advice ; 

And  I  will  give  a  taste  of  it  forthwith 

To  Agamemnon :  go  we  to  him  straight.  390 

Two  curs  shall  tame  each  other :  pride  alone 

Must  tarre  the  mastiffs  on,  as  'twere  their  bone. 

{Exeunt. 

ACT  SECOND. 

Scene  I. 

The  Grecian  camp. 

Enter  Ajax  and  Thersites. 

Ajax.  Thersites ! 

Ther.  Agamemnon — how  if  he  had  boils — full,  all 

over,  generally? 
Ajax.  Thersites ! 
Ther.  And  those  boils  did  run? — Say  so, — did  not 

the  general  run  then?    were  not  that  a  botchy 

core? 
Ajax.  Dog! 

53 


Act  II.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Ther.  Then  would  come  some  matter  from  him  ;  I  see 

none  now.  lo 

Ajax.  Thou  bitch-wolf's  son,  canst  thou  not  hear? 

Feel,  then.  •  [Strikes  him. 

Ther.  The  plague  of  Greece  upon  thee,  thou  mongrel 
beef-witted  lord ! 

Ajax.  Speak  then,  thou  vinewed'st  leaven,  speak:   I 
'   will  beat  thee  into  handsomeness. 

Ther.  I  shall  sooner  rail  thee  into  wit  and  holiness : 
but,  I  think,  thy  horse  will  sooner  con  an  oration 
than  thou  learn  a  prayer  without  book.     Thou 
canst  strike,  canst  thou?    a  red  murrain  o'  thy     20 
jade's  tricks ! 

Ajax.  Toadstool,  learn  me  the  proclamation. 

Ther.  Dost  thou  think  I  have  no  sense,  thou  strikest 
me  thus? 

Ajax.  The  proclamation ! 

Ther.  Thou  art  proclaimed  a  fool,  I  think. 

Ajax.  Do  not,  porpentine,  do  not ;   my  fingers  itch. 

Ther.  I  would  thou  didst  itch  from  head  to  foot,  and 
I  had  the  scratching  of  thee ;  I  would  make  thee 
the  loathsomest  scab  in  Greece.    When  thou  art     30 
forth  in  the  incursions,  thou  strikest  as  slow  as 
another. 

Ajax.  I  say,  the  proclamation  ! 

Ther.  Thou  grumblest  and  railest  every  hour  on 
Achilles,  and  thou  art  as  full  of  envy  at  his 
greatness  as  Cerberus  is  at  Proserpina's  beauty, 
ay,  that  thou  barkest  at  him. 

Ajax.  Mistress  Thersites ! 

Ther.  Thou  shouldst  strike  him. 

Ajax.  Cobloaf!  40 

54 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  i. 

Ther.  He  would  pi.m  thee  into  shivers  with  his  fist,  as 
a  sailor  breaks  a  biscuit. 

Ajax.   [Beating  him]   You  w^horeson  cur ! 

Ther.  Do,  do. 

AjaA',  Thou  stool  for  a  witch ! 

Ther.  Ay,  do,  do;  thou  sodden-witted  lord!  thou 
hast  no  more  brain  than  I  have  in  mine  elbows ; 
an  assinego  may  tutor  thee :  thou  scurvy  valiant 
ass!  thou  art  here  but  to  thrash  Trojans;  and 
thou  art  bought  and  sold  among  those  of  any  wit,  50 
like  a  barbarian  slave.  If  thou  use  to  beat  me,  I 
will  begin  at  thy  heel  and  tell  what  thou  art  by 
inches,  thou  thing  of  no  bowels,  thou ! 

Ajax.  You  dog! 

Ther.  You  scurvy  lord ! 

Ajax.    [Beating  him]   You  cur! 

Ther.  Mars  his  idiot !  do,  rudeness ;  do,  camel,  do,  do. 

Enter  Achilles  and  Patroclus. 

Achil.  Why,  how  now,  Ajax!  wherefore  do  ye  thus? 
How  now,  Thersites  !  what 's  the  matter,  man  ? 

Ther.  You  see  him  there,  do  you  ?  60 

Achil.  Ay;  what 's  the  matter? 

Ther.  Nay,  look  upon  him. 

Achil.  So  I  do:  what 's  the  matter? 

Ther.  Nay,  but  regard  him  well. 

Achil.  '  Well ! '  why,  so  I  do. 

Ther.  But  yet  you  look  not  well  upon  him ;  for,  who- 
soever you  take  him  to  be,  he  is  Ajax. 

Achil.  I  know  that,  fool. 

Ther.  Ay,  but  that  fool  knows  not  himself. 

Ajax.  Therefore  I  beat  thee.  70 

55 


Act  II.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Ther.  Lo,  lo,  lo,  lo,  what  modicums  of  wit  he  utters ! 
his  evasions  have  ears  thus  long.  I  have  bobbed 
his  brain  more  than  he  has  beat  my  bones  :  I  will 
buy  nine  sparrows  for  a  penny,  and  his  pia  mater 
is  not  worth  the  ninth  part  of  a  sparrow.  This 
lord,  Achilles,  Ajax,  who  wears  his  wit  in  his 
belly  and  his  guts  in  his  head,  I  '11  tell  you  what 
I  say  of  him. 

Achil.  What? 

Ther.  I  say,  this  Ajax —  [Ajax  offers  to  strike  him. 

Achil.  Nay,  good  Ajax.  8i 

Ther.  Has  not  so  much  wit — 

Achil.  Nay,  I  must  hold  you. 

Ther.  As  will  stop  the  eye  of  Helen's  needle,  for 
whom  he  comes  to  fight. 

Achil.  Peace,  fool! 

Ther.  I  would  have  peace  and  quietness,  but  the  fool 
will  not :   he  there :   that  he :   look  you  there ! 

Ajax.  O  thou  damned  cur !  I  shall — 

Achil.  Will  you  set  your  wit  to  a  fool's?  90 

Ther.  No,  I  warrant  you  ;  for  a  fool's  will  shame  it. 

Patr.  Good  words,  Thersites. 

Achil.  What 's  the  quarrel  ? 

Ajax.  I  bade  the  vile  owl  go  learn  me  the  tenour  of 
the  proclamation,  and  he  rails  upon  me. 

Ther.  I  serve  thee  not. 

Ajax.  Well,  go  to,  go  to. 

Ther.  I  serve  here  voluntary. 

Achil.  Your  last  service  was  sufferance,  'twas  not 

voluntary ;    no  man  is  beaten  voluntary :    Ajax  100 
was  here  the  voluntary,  and  you  as  under  an 
impress. 

56 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  i. 

Ther.  E'en  so;  a  great  deal  of  your  wit  too  lies  in 
your  sinews,  or  else  there  be  liars.  Hector  shall 
have  a  great  catch,  if  he  knock  out  either  of 
your  brains :  a'  were  as  good  crack  a  fusty  nut 
with  no  kernel. 

Achil.  What,  with  me  too,  Thersites? 

Ther.  There  's  Ulysses  and  old  Nestor,  whose  wit 

was  mouldy  ere  your  grandsires  had  nails  on   no 
their  toes,  yoke  you  like  draught-oxen,  and  make 
you  plough  up  the  wars. 

Achil.  What?  what? 

Ther.  Yes,  good  sooth :  to,  Achilles !  to,  Ajax !  to ! 

Ajax.  I  shall  cut  out  your  tongue. 

Ther.  'Tis  no  matter ;  I  shall  speak  as  much  as  thou 
afterwards. 

Patr.  No  more  words,  Thersites ;  peace ! 

Ther.  I  will  hold  my  peace  when  Achilles'  brooch 

bids  me,  shall  I  ?  I20 

Achil.  There  's  for  you,  Patroclus. 

Ther.  I  will  see  you  hanged,  like  clotpoles,  ere  I 
come  any  more  to  your  tents :  I  will  keep  where 
there  is  wit  stirring,  and  leave  the  faction  of 
fools.  [Exit. 

Patr.  A  good  riddance. 

Achil.  Marry,  this,  sir,  is  proclaim'd  through  all  our 
host: 
That  Hector,  by  the  fifth  hour  of  the  sun. 
Will  with  a  trumpet  'twixt  our  tents  and  Troy 
To-morrow  morning  call  some  knight  to  arms       130 
That  hath  a  stomach,  and  such  a  one  that  dare 
Maintain — I  know  not  what :  'tis  trash.  Farewell. 

Ajax.  Farewell.    Who  shall  answer  him  ? 

57 


Act  II.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Achil.  I  know  not ;  'tis  put  to  lottery ;  otherwise 

He  knew  his  man. 
Ajax.  O,  meaning  you.    I  will  go  learn  more  of  it. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene  II. 

Troy.    A  room  in  Priam's  palace. 
Enter  Priam,  Hector,  Troilus,  Paris,  and  Helenus. 

Pri.  After  so  many  hours,  lives,  speeches  spent. 

Thus  once  again  says  Nestor  from  the  Greeks : 

*  Deliver  Helen,  and  all  damage  else, 

As  honour,  loss  of  time,  travail,  expense. 

Wounds,  friends,  and  what  else  dear  that  is  consumed 

In  hot  digestion  of  this  cormorant  war, 

Shall  be  struck  off.'     Hector,  what  say  you  to  't? 

Hect.  Though  no  man  lesser  fears  the  Greeks  than  I 
As  far  as  toucheth  my  particular, 
Yet,  dread  Priam,  lo 

There  is  no  lady  of  more  softer  bowels, 
More  spongy  to  suck  in  the  sense  of  fear, 
More  ready  to  cry  out '  Who  knows  what  follows  ? ' 
Than  Hector  is  :  the  wound  of  peace  is  surety. 
Surety  secure :  but  modest  doubt  is  call'd 
The  beacon  of  the  wise,  the  tent  that  searches 
To  the  bottom  of  the  worst.    Let  Helen  go. 
Since  the  first  sword  was  drawn  about  this  question, 
Every  tithe  soul,  'mongst  many  thousand  dismes, 
Hath  been  as  dear  as  Helen ;  I  mean,  of  ours :  20 

If  we  have  lost  so  many  tenths  of  ours, 
To  guard  a  thing  not  ours,  nor  worth  to  us, 
Had  it  our  name,  the  value  of  one  ten, 

58 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  ii. 

What  merit 's  in  that  reason  which  denies 
The  yielding  of  her  up? 

Tro.  Fie,  fie,  my  brother! 

Weigh  you  the  worth  and  honour  of  a  king, 
So  great  as  our  dread  father,  in  a  scale 
Of  common  ounces?  will  you  with  counters  sum 
The  past  proportion  of  his  infinite? 
And  buckle  in  a  waist  most  fathomless  30 

With  spans  and  inches  so  diminutive 
As  fears  and  reasons?  fie,  for  godly  shame! 

Hel.  No  marvel,  though  you  bite  so  sharp  at  reasons, 
You  are  so  empty  of  them.    Should  not  our  father 
Bear  the  great  sway  of  his  afifairs  with  reasons, 
Because  your  speech  hath  none  that  tells  him  so? 

Tro.  You  are  for  dreams  and  slumbers,  brother  priest; 
You  fur  your  gloves  with  reason.     Here  are  your 

reasons: 
You  know  an  enemy  intends  you  harm; 
You  know  a  sword  employ'd  is  perilous,  40 

And  reason  flies  the  object  of  all  harm: 
Who  marvels  then,  when  Helenus  beholds 
A  Grecian  and  his  sword,  if  he  do  set 
The  very  wings  of  reason  to  his  heels, 
And  fly  like  chidden  Mercury  from  Jove, 
Or  like  a  star  disorb'd?     Nay,  if  we  talk  of  reason. 
Let 's  shut  our  gates,  and  sleep :  manhood  and  honour 
Should  have  hare  hearts,  would  they  but  fat  their 

thoughts 
With  this  cramm'd  reason:   reason  and  respect 
Make  livers  pale  and  lustihood  deject.  50 

Hect.  Brother,  she  is  not  worth  what  she  doth  cost 
The  holding. 

59 


Act  II.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Tro.  What 's  aught,  but  as  'tis  valued  ? 

Hect.  But  value  dwells  not  in  particular  will; 
It  holds  his  estimate  and  dignity 
As  well  wherein  'tis  precious  of  itself 
As  in  the  prizer :  'tis  mad  idolatry 
To  make  the  service  greater  than  the  god; 
And  the  will  dotes,  that  is  attributive 
To  what  infectiously  itself  affects, 
Without  some  image  of  the  afifected  merit,  60 

Tro.  I  take  to-day  a  wife,  and  my  election 
Is  led  on  in  the  conduct  of  my  will; 
My  will  enkindled  by  mine  eyes  and  ears. 
Two  traded  pilots  'twixt  the  dangerous  shores 
Of  will  and  judgement:   how  may  I  avoid. 
Although  my  will  distaste  what  it  elected, 
The  wife  I  chose  ?  there  can  be  no  evasion 
To  blench  from  this,  and  to  stand  firm  by  honour. 
We  turn  not  back  the  silks  upon  the  merchant 
When  we  have  soil'd  them,  nor  the  remainder  viands 
We  do  not  throw  in  unrespective  sieve,  70 

Because  we  now  are  full.     It  was  thought  meet 
Paris  should  do  some  vengeance  on  the  Greeks: 
Your  breath  of  full  consent  belHed.his  sails; 
The  seas  and  winds,  old  wranglers,  took  a  truce, 
And  did  him  service :  he  touch'd  the  ports  desired ; 
And  for  an  old  aunt  whom  the  Greeks  held  captive 
He   brought   a   Grecian   queen,  whose   youth   and 

freshness 
Wrinkles  Apollo's  and  makes  stale  the  morning. 
Why  keep  we  her?  the  Grecians  ket^  our  aunt:     80 
Is  she  worth  keeping?  why,  she  is  a  pearl, 
Whose  price  hath  launch'd  above  a  thousand  ships, 
60 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  ii. 

And  tum'd  crown'd  kings  to  merchants. 

If  you  '11  avouch  'twas  wisdom  Paris  went, 

As  you  must  needs,  for  you  all  cried  '  Go,  go,' 

If  you  '11  confess  he  brought  home  noble  prize, 

As  you  must  needs,  for  you  all  clapp'd  your  hands, 

And  cried  '  Inestimable ! '  why  do  you  now 

The  issue  of  your  proper  wisdoms  rate, 

And  do  a  deed  that  Fortune  never  did,  90 

Beggar  the  estimation  which  you  prized 

Richer  than  sea  and  land?     O,  theft  most  base, 

That  we  have  stol'n  what  we  do  fear  to  keep ! 

But  thieves  unworthy  of  a  thing  so  stol'n. 

That  in  their  country  did  them  that  disgrace, 

We  fear  to  warrant  in  our  native  place! 

Ca^.   [Within]   Cry,  Trojans,  cry! 

Pri.  What  noise?  what  shriek  is  this? 

Tro.  'Tis  our  mad  sister,  I  do  know  her  voice. 

Cas.   [Within']  Cry,  Trojans! 

Hect.  It  is  Cassandra.  100 

Enter  Cassandra,  raving,  with  her  hair  about  her  ears. 

Cas.  Cry,  Trojans,  cry!   lend  me  ten  thousand  eyes. 
And  I  will  fill  them  with  prophetic  tears. 

Hect.  Peace,  sister,  peace! 

Cas.  Virgins  and  boys,  mid  age  and  wrinkled  eld, 
Soft  infancy,  that  nothing  canst  but  cry. 
Add  to  my  clamours!  let  us  pay  betimes 
A  moiety  of  that  mass  of  moan  to  come. 
Cry,  Trojans,  cry!   practise  your  eyes  with  tears! 
Troy  must  not  be,  nor  goodly  Ilion  stand; 
Our  firebrand  brother,  Paris,  burns  us  all.  no 

Cry,  Trojans,  cry!  a  Helen  and  a  woe: 
61 


Act  11.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Cry,  cry!  Troy  burns,  or  else  let  Helen  go.        [Exit. 

Hect.  Now,  youthful  Troilus,  do  not  these  high  strains 
Of  divination  in  our  sister  work 
Some  touches  of  remorse?  or  is  your  blood 
So  madly  hot  that  no  discourse  of  reason, 
Nor  fear  of  bad  success  in  a  bad  cause. 
Can  qualify  the  same? 

Tro.  Why,  brother  Hector, 

We  may  not  think  the  justness  of  each  act 
Such  and  no  other  than  event  doth  form  it;  120 

Nor  once  deject  the  courage  of  our  minds. 
Because  Cassandra  's  mad :  her  brain-sick  raptures 
Cannot  distaste  the  goodness  of  a  quarrel 
Which  hath  our  several  honours  all  engaged 
To  make  it  gracious.     For  my  private  part, 
I  am  no  more  touch'd  than  all  Priam's  sons: 
And  Jove  forbid  there  should  be  done  amongst  us 
Such  things  as  might  offend  the  weakest  spleen 
To  fight  for  and  maintain ! 

Par.  Else  might  the  world  convince  of  levity  130 

As  well  my  undertakings  as  your  counsels : 
But  I  attest  the  gods,  your  full  consent 
Gave  wings  to  my  propension,  and  cut  off 
All  fears  attending  on  so  dire  a  project. 
For  what,  alas,  can  these  my  single  arms? 
What  propugnation  is  in  one  man's  valour, 
To  stand  the  push  and  enmity  of  those 
This  quarrel  would  excite?     Yet,  I  protest, 
Were  I  alone  to  pass  the  difficulties. 
And  had  as  ample  power  as  I  haive  will,  140 

Paris  should  ne'er  retract  what  he  hath  done, 
Nor  faint  in  the  pursuit. 
62 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  ii. 

Pri.  Paris,  you  speak 

Like  one  besotted  on  your  sweet  delights: 
You  have  the  honey  still,  but  these  the  gall; 
So  to  be  vaHant  is  no  praise  at  all. 

Par.  Sir,  I  propose  not  merely  to  myself 

The  pleasures  such  a  beauty  brings  with  it ; 

But  I  would  have  the  soil  of  her  fair  rape 

Wiped  off  in  honourable  keeping  her. 

What  treason  were  it  to  the  ransack'd  queen,       150 

Disgrace  to  your  great  worths,  and  shame  to  me, 

Now  to  deliver  her  possession  up 

On  terms  of  base  compulsion!     Can  it  be 

That  so  degenerate  a  strain  as  this 

Should  once  set  footing  in  your  generous  bosoms? 

There  's  not  the  meanest  spirit  on  our  party, 

Without  a  heart  to  dare,  or  sword  to  draw, 

When  Helen  is  defended,  nor  none  so  noble. 

Whose  life  were  ill  bestow'd,  or  death  unfamed, 

Where  Helen  is  the  subject:  then,  I  say,  160 

Well  may  we  fight  for  her,  whom,  we  know  well. 

The  world's  large  spaces  cannot  parallel. 

Hect.  Paris  and  Troilus,  you  have  both  said  well; 
And  on  the  cause  and  question  now  in  hand 
Have  glozed,  but  superficially;  not  much 
Unlike  young  men,  whom  Aristotle  thought 
Unfit  to  hear  moral  philosophy. 
The  reasons  you  allege  do  more  conduce 
To  the  hot  passion  of  distemper'd  blood. 
Than  to  make  up  a  free  determination        ^  170 

'Twixt  right  and  wrong;  for  pleasure  and  revenge 
Have  ears  more  deaf  than  adders  to  the  voice 
Of  any  true  decision.     Nature  craves 

63 


Act  II.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

All  dues  be  render'd  to  their  owners:   now, 
What  nearer  debt  in  all  humanity 
Than  wife  is  to  the  husband?     If  this  law 
Of  nature  be  corrupted  through  affection, 
And  that  great  minds,  of  partial  indulgence 
To  their  benumbed  wills,  resist  the  same. 
There  is  a  law  in  each  well-order'd  nation  i8o 

To  curb  those  raging  appetites  that  are 
Most  disobedient  and  refractory. 
If  Helen  then  be  wife  to  Sparta's  king, 
As  it  is  known  she  is,  these  moral  laws 
Of  nature  and  of  nations  speak  aloud 
To  have  her  back  return'd :   thus  to  persist 
In  doing  wrong  extenuates  not  wrong. 
But  makes  it  much  more  heavy.     Hector's  opinion 
Is  this  in  way  of  truth:   yet,  ne'ertheless. 
My  spritely  brethren,  I  propend  to  you  190 

In  resolution  to  keep  Helen  still ; 
For  'tis  a  cause  that  hath  no  mean  dependance 
Upon  our  joint  and  several  dignities. 
Tro.  Why,  there  you  touch'd  the  life  of  our  design: 
Were  it  not  glory  that  we  more  affected 
Than  the  performance  of  our  heaving  spleens, 
I  would  not  wish  a  drop  of  Trojan  blood 
Spent  more  in  her  defence.     But,  worthy  Hector, 
She  is  a  theme  of  honour  and  renown; 
A  spur  to  valiant  and  magnanimous  deeds,  200 

Whose  present  courage  may  beat  down  our  foes. 
And  fame  in  time  to  come  canonize  us: 
For,  I  presume,  brave  Hector  would  not  lose 
So  rich  advantage  of  a  promised  glory 
As  smiles  upon  the  forehead  of  this  action 
64 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  iii. 

For  the  wide  world's  revenue. 
Hect.  I  am  yours, 

You  valiant  offspring  of  great  Priamus. 
I  have  a  roisting  challenge  sent  amongst 
The  dull  and  factious  nobles  of  the  Greeks, 
Will  strike  amazement  to  their  drowsy  spirits :      210 
I  was  advertised  their  great  general  slept, 
Whilst  emulation  in  the  army  crept: 
This,  I  presume,  will  wake  him.  [Exeunt, 

Scene  III. 

The  Grecian  camp.     Before  the  tent  of  Achilles. 

Enter  Ther sites,  solus. 

Ther.  How  now,  Thersites !  what,  lost  in  the  labyrinth 
of  thy  fury!  Shall  the  elephant  Ajax  carry  it 
thus  ?  he  beats  me,  and  I  rail  at  him :  O,  worthy 
satisfaction !  would  it  were  otherwise ;  that  I 
could  beat  him,  whilst  he  railed  at  me.  'Sfoot, 
I  '11  learn  to  conjure  and  raise  devils,  but  I  '11  see 
some  issue  of  my  spiteful  execrations.  Then 
there 's  Achilles,  a  rare  enginer.  If  Troy  be 
not  taken  till  these  two  undermine  it,  the  walls 
will  stand  till  they  fall  of  themselves.  O  thou  10 
great  thunder-darter  of  Olympus,  forget  that 
thou  art  Jove,  the  king  of  gods,  and.  Mercury, 
lose  all  the  serpentine  craft  of  thy  caduceus,  if 
ye  take  not  that  little  little  less  than  little  wit 
from  them  that  they  have!  which  short-armed 
ignorance  itself  knows  is  so  abundant  scarce,  it 
will  not  in  circumvention  deliver  a  fly  from  a 
spider,  without  drawing  their  massy  irons  and 

65 


Act  II.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

cutting  the  web.  After  this,  the  vengeance  on 
the  whole  camp !  or,  rather,  the  NeapoHtan  bone-  20 
ache !  for  that,  methinks,  is  the  curse  dependant 
on  those  that  war  for  a  placket.  I  have  said  my 
prayers ;  and  devil  Envy  say  amen.  What,  ho ! 
my  Lord  Achilles! 

Enter  Patroclus. 

Pair.  Who 's  there  ?  Thersitcs !  Good  Thersites, 
come  in  and  rail. 

Ther.  If  I  could  ha'  remembered  a  gilt  counterfeit, 
thou  wouldst  not  have  slipped  out  of  my  con- 
templation: but  it  is  no  matter;  thyself  upon 
thyself!  The  common  curse  of  mankind,  folly  30 
and  ignorance,  be  thine  in  great  revenue !  heaven 
bless  thee  from  a  tutor,  and  discipline  come  not 
near  thee!  Let  thy  blood  be  thy  direction  till 
thy  death!  then  if  she  that  lays  thee  out  says 
thou  art  a  fair  corse,  I  '11  be  sworn  and  sworn 
upon 't  she  never  shrouded  any  but  lazars. 
Amen.     Where  's  Achilles  ? 

Pair.  What,  art  thou  devout?   wast  thou  in  prayer? 

Ther,  Ay ;  the  heavens  hear  me ! 

Pair.  Amen.  40 

Enter  Achilles. 

Achil.  Who's  there? 

Pair.  Thersites,  my  lord. 

Achil.  Where,  where?  Art  thou  come?  why,  my 
cheese,  my  digestion,  why  hast  thou  not  served 
thyself  in  to  my  table  so  many  meals?  Come, 
what 's  Agamemnon  ? 

66 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  iii. 

Ther.  Thy  commander,  Achilles :  then  tell  me, 
Patroclus,  what 's  Achilles  ? 

Pair,  Thy  lord,  Thersites :   then  tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 

what 's  thyself  ?  50 

Ther.  Thy  knower,  Patroclus :  then  tell  me,  Patro- 
clus, what  art  thou? 

Pair.  Thou  mayst  tell  that  knowest. 

AMI  O,  tell,  tell. 

Ther.  I  '11  decline  the  whole  question.  Agamemnon 
commands  Achilles ;  Achilles  is  my  lord ;  I  am 
Patroclus'  knower,  and  Patroclus  is  a  fool. 

Patr.  You  rascal! 

Ther.  Peace,  fool !     I  have  not  done. 

.^''chiL  He  is  a  privileg-ed  man.     Proceed,  Thersites.     60 

Ther.  Agamemnon  is  a  fool ;  Achilles  is  a  fool ; 
Thersites  is  a  fool,  and,  as  aforesaid,  Patroclus 
is  a  fool. 

Achil.  Derive  this ;   come. 

Ther.  Agamemnon  is  a  fool  to  offer  to  command 
Achilles ;  Achilles  is  a  fool  to  be  commanded  of 
Agamemnon  ;  Thersites  is  a  fool  to  serve  such  a 
fool ;   and  Patroclus  is  a  fool  positive. 

Patr,  Why  am  I  a  fool? 

Ther.  Make  that  demand  of  the  prover.     It  suffices 

me  thou  art.     Look  you,  who  comes  here  ?  70 

Achil.  Patroclus,  I  '11  speak  with  nobody.     Come  in 

with  me,  Thersites.  [Exit, 

Ther.  Here  is  such  patchery,  such  juggling  and  such 
knavery!  all  the  argument  is  a  cuckold  and  a 
whore ;  a  good  quarrel  to  draw  emulous  factions 
and  bleed  to  death  upon.  Now,  the  dry  serpigo 
on  the  subject!  and  war  and  lechery  confound 
all !  [Exit. 

67 


Act  II.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Enter  Agamemnon,  Ulysses,  Nestor,  Diomedes,  and  Ajax. 

Agam,  Where  is  Achilles? 

Patr,  Within  his  tent ;  but  ill-disposed,  my  lord.  80 

Agam.  Let  it  be  known  to  him  that  we  are  here. 
He  shent  our  messengers ;  and  we  lay  by 
Our  appertainments,  visiting  of  him : 
Let  him  be  told  so,  lest  perchance  he  think 
We  dare  not  move  the  question  of  our  place, 
Or  know  not  what  we  are. 

Patr.  T  shall  say  so  to  him.      [Exit. 

Ulyss.  We  saw  him  at  the  opening  of  his  tent : 
He  is  not  sick. 

Ajax.  Yes,  lion-sick,  sick  of  proud  heart :    you  may 

call  it  melancholy,  if  you  will  favour  the  man ;     90 
but,  by  my  head,  'tis  pride:   but  why,  why?   let 
him  show  us  the  cause.     A  word,  my  lord. 

[Takes  Agamemnon  aside. 

Nest.  What  moves  Ajax  thus  to  bay  at  him? 

Ulyss.  Achilles  hath  inveigled  his  fool  from  him. 

Nest.  Who,  Thersites? 

Ulyss.  He. 

Nest.  Then  will  Ajax  lack  matter,  if  he  have  lost  his 
argument. 

Ulyss.  No,  you  see,  he  is  his  argument  that  has  his 

argument,  Achilles.  100 

Nest,  All  the  better ;  their  fraction  is  more  our  wish 
than  their  faction :  but  it  was  a  strong  compos- 
ure a  fool  could  disunite. 

Ulyss.  The  amity  that  wisdom  knits  not,  folly  may 
easily  untie. 

Re-enter  Patroclus. 

Here  comes  Patroclus.  ** 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  iii. 

Nest.  No  Achilles  with  him. 

Ulyss.  The  elephant  hath  joints,  but  none  for  courtesy: 
his  legs  are  legs  for  necessity,  not  for  flexure. 

Pair.  Achilles  bids  me  say,  he  is  much  sorry,  no 

If  anything  more  than  your  sport  and  pleasure 
Did  move  your  greatness  and  this  noble  state 
To  call  upon  him ;   he  hopes  it  is  no  other 
But  for  your  health  and  your  digestion  sake, 
An  after-dinner's  breath. 

Agam.  Hear  you,  Patroclus; 

We  are  too  well  acquainted  with  these  answers: 
But  his  evasion,  wing'd  thus  swift  with  scorn, 
Cannot  outfly  our  apprehensions. 
Much  attribute  he  hath,  and  much  the  reason 
Why  we  ascribe  it  to  him  :  yet  all  his  virtues,         120 
Not  virtuously  on  his  own  part  beheld. 
Do  in  our  eyes  begin  to  lose  their  gloss. 
Yea,  like  fair  fruit  in  an  unwholesome  dish. 
Are  Hke  to  rot  untasted.     Go  and  tell  him, 
We  come  to  speak  with  him ;   and  you  shall  not  sin, 
If  you  do  say  we  think  him  over-proud 
And  under-honest;   in  self-assumption  greater 
Than  in  the  note  of  judgement;   and  worthier  than 

himself 
Here  tend  the  savage  strangeness  he  puts  on. 
Disguise  the  holy  strength  of  their  command,        130 
And  underwrite  in  an  observing  kind 
His  humorous  predominance ;  yea,  watch 
His  pettish  lunes,  his  ebbs,  his  flows,  as  if 
The  passage  and  whole  carriage  of  this  action 
Rode  on  his  tide.     Go  tell  him  this,  and  add. 
That  if  he  overbold  his  price  so  much, 

69 


Act  II.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

We  '11  none  of  him,  but  let  him,  like  an  engine 

Not  portable,  lie  under  this  report : 

*  Bring  action  hither,  this  cannot  go  to  war : 

A  stirring  dwarf  we  do  allowance  give  140 

Before  a  sleeping  giant ' :   tell  him  so. 

Pair.  I  shall ;   and  bring  his  answer  presently.         [Exit, 

Agam.  In  second  voice  we  '11  not  be  satisfied  ; 

We  come  to  speak  with  him.     Ulysses,  enter  you. 

[Exit  Ulysses. 

Ajax.  What  is  he  more  than  another? 

Agam.  No  more  than  what  he  thinks  he  is. 

Ajax.  Is  he  so  much?  Do  you  not  think  he  thinks 
himself  a  better  man  than  I  am? 

Agam.  No  question. 

Ajax.  Will  you  subscribe  his  thought  and  say  he  is?  150 

Agam.  No,  noble  Ajax ;  you  are  as  strong,  as  vali- 
ant, as  wise,  no  less  noble,  much  more  gentle  and 
altogether  more  tractable. 

Ajax.  Why  should  a  man  be  proud?  How  doth 
pride  grow?     I  know  not  what  pride  is. 

Agam.  Your  mind  is  the  clearer,  Ajax,  and  your 
virtues  the  fairer.  He  that  is  proud  eats  up  him- 
self: pride  is  his  own  glass,  his  own  trumpet, 
his  own  chronicle;  and  whatever  praises  itself 
but  in  the  deed,  devours  the  deed  in  the  praise.      160 

Ajax.  I  do  hate  a  proud  man,  as  I  hate  the  engender- 
ing of  toads. 

Nest.   [Aside]   Yet  he  loves  himself:   is 't  not  strange? 

Re-enter  Ulysses. 

Ulyss.  Achilles  will  not  to  the  field  to-morrow. 
Agam.  What 's  his  excuse  ? 

70 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  iii. 

Ulyss.  He  doth  rely  on  none, 

But  carries  on  the  stream  of  his  dispose, 
Without  observance  or  respect  of  any. 
In  will  peculiar  and  in  self-admission. 

Agaml  Why  will  he  not,  upon  our  fair  request, 

Untent  his  person,  and  share  the  air  with  us?        170 

Ulyss.  Things  small  as  nothing,  for  request's  sake  only 
He  makes  important :   possess'd  he  is  with  greatness, 
And  speaks  not  to  himself  but  with  a  pride 
That  quarrels  at  self-breath :  imagined  worth 
Holds  in  his  blood  such  swoln  and  hot  discourse 
That  'twixt  his  mental  and  his  active  parts 
Kingdom'd  Achilles  in  commotion  rages 
And  batters  down  himself :  what  should  I  say  ? 
He  is  so  plaguy  proud  that  the  death-tokens  of  it 
Cry  '  No  recovery.' 

A  gam.  Let  Ajax  go  to  him.  180 

Dear  lord,  go  you  and  greet  him  in  his  tent : 
'Tis  said  he  holds  you  well,  and  will  be  led 
At  your  request  a  little  from  himself. 

Ulyss.  O  Agamemnon,  let  it  not  be  so ! 

We  '11  consecrate  the  steps  that  Ajax  makes 

When  they  go  from  Achilles.     Shall  the  proud  lord 

That  bastes  his  arrogance  with  his  own  seam. 

And  never  suffers  matter  of  the  world 

Enter  his  thoughts,  save  such  as  do  revolve 

And  ruminate  himself,  shall  he  be  worshipp'd        190 

Of  that  we  hold  an  idol  more  than  he? 

No,  this  thrice  worthy  and  right  valiant  lord 

Must  not  so  stale  his  palm,  nobly  acquired, 

Nor,  by  my  will,  assub jugate  his  merits 

A5  amply  titled  as  Achilles  is, 

71 


Act  II.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

By  going  to  Achilles : 

That  were  to  enlard  his  fat-already  pride, 

And  add  more  coals  to  Cancer  when  he  burns 

With  entertaining  great  Hyperion. 

This  lord  go  to  him !     Jupiter  forbid,  200 

And  say  in  thunder  '  Achilles  go  to  him.' 
Nest.   [Aside]   O,  this  is  well ;  he  rubs  the  vein  of  him. 
Dio.  [Aside]  And  how  his  silence  drinks  up  this  applause ! 
Ajax.  If  I  go  to  him,  with  my  armed  fist 

I  '11  pash  him  o'er  the  face. 
Agam.  O,  no,  you  shall  not  go. 
Ajax.  An  a'  be  proud  with  me,  I  '11  pheeze  his  pride : 

Let  me  go  to  him. 
Ulyss.  Not  for  the  worth  that  hangs  upon  our  quarrel. 
Ajax.  A  paltry,  insolent  fellow!  210 

Nest.  [Aside]  How  he  describes  himself! 
Ajax.  Can  he  not  be  sociable  ? 
Ulyss.   [Aside]  The  raven  chides  blackness. 
Ajax.  I  '11  let  his  humours  blood. 
Agam.   [Aside]   He  will  be  the  physician  that  should 

be  the  patient. 
Ajax.  An  all  men  were  o'  my  mind, — 
Ulyss.   [Aside]   Wit  would  be  out  of  fashion. 
Ajax.  A'  should  not  bear  it  so,  a'  should  eat  swords 

first :  shall  pride  carry  it  ?  220 

Nest.   [Aside]   An  'twould,  you  'Id  carry  half. 
Ulyss.   [Aside]  A'  would  have  ten  shares. 
Ajax.  I  will  knead  him,  I  '11  make  him  supple. 
Nest.   [Aside]  He's  not  yet  through  warm :  force  him 

with  praises  :  pour  in,  pour  in ;  his  ambition  is  dry. 
Ulyss.   [To  Agamemnon]   My    lord,    you    feed   too 
much  on  this  dislike. 

72 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  II.  Sc.  iii. 

Nest,  Our  noble  general,  do  not  do  so. 

Dio,  You  must  prepare  to  fight  without  Achilles. 

Ulyss,  Why,  'tis  this  naming  of  him  does  him  harm. 

Here  is  a  man — but  'tis  before  his  face ;  230 

I  will  be  silent. 

Nest.  Wherefore  should  you  so? 

He  is  not  emulous,  as  Achilles  is. 

Ulyss.  Know  the  whole  world,  he  is  as  valiant. 

Ajax.  A  whoreson  dog,  that  shall  palter  thus  with 
us !     Would  he  were  a  Trojan  ! 

Nest.  What  a  vice  were  it  in  Ajax  now — 

Ulyss.  H  he  were  proud, — 

Dio.  Or  covetous  of  praise, — 

Ulyss.  Ay,  or  surly  borne, — 

Dio.  Or  strange,  or  self-affected !  240 

Ulyss.  Thank  the  heavens,  lord,  thou  art  of  sweet  com- 
posure ; 
Praise  him  that  got  thee,  she  that  gave  thee  suck : 
Famed  be  thy  tutor,  and  thy  parts  of  nature 
Thrice-famed  beyond,  beyond  all  erudition  : 
But  he  that  disciplined  thine  arms  to  fight. 
Let  Mars  divide  eternity  in  twain. 
And  give  him  half :  and,  for  thy  vigour. 
Bull-bearing  Milo  his  addition  yield 
To  sinewy  Ajax.     I  will  not  praise  thy  wisdom, 
Which,  like  a  bourn,  a  pale,  a  shore,  confines      250 
Thy  spacious  and  dilated  parts  :  here  's  Nestor, 
Instructed  by  the  antiquary  times. 
He  must,  he  is,  he  cannot  but  be  wise ; 
But  pardon,  father  Nestor,  were  your  days 
As  green  as  Ajax',  and  your  brain  so  temper'd, 
You  should  not  have  the  eminence  of  him, 

73 


Act  III.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

But  be  as  Ajax. 

Ajax.  Shall  I  call  you  father? 

iV^^^.  Ay,  my  good  son. 

Dio.  Be  ruled  by  him,  Lord  Ajax. 

Ulyss.  There  is  no  tarrying  here ;   the  hart  Achilles 

Keeps  thicket.     Please  it  our  great  general  260 

To  call  together  all  his  state  of  war : 

Fresh  kings  are  come  to  Troy :  to-morrow 

We  must  with  all  our  main  of  power  stand  fast : 

And  here  's  a  lord,  come  knights  from  east  to  west, 

And  cull  their  flower,  Ajax  shall  cope  the  best. 

Agam.  Go  we  to  council.     Let  Achilles  sleep : 

Light  boats  sail  swift,  though  greater  hulks  draw 
deep^  [Exeunt. 

ACT  THIRD. 
Scene  I. 

Troy.     A  room  in  Priam's  palace. 
Enter  Pan  darns  and  a  Servant. 

Pan.  Friend,  you,  pray  you,  a  word:    do  you  not 

follow  the  young  Lord  Paris  ? 
Serv.  Ay,  sir,  when  he  goes  before  me. 
Pan.  You  depend  upon  him,  I  mean? 
Serv.  Sir,  I  do  depend  upon  the  Lord. 
Pan,  You  depend  upon  a  noble  gentleman;   I  must 

needs  praise  him. 
Serv.  The  Lord  be  praised ! 
Pan.  You  know  me,  do  you  not? 

Serv.  Faith,  sir,  superficially.  10 

Pan,  Friend,  know  me  better ;  I  am  the  Lord  Pandartis, 

74 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  i. 

Serv.  I  hope  I  shall  know  your  honour  better. 

Pan.  I  do  desire  it. 

Serv.  You  are  in  the  state  of  grace. 

Pan.  Grace !    not  so,   friend ;    honour  and   lordship 

are  my  titles.      [Music  zvithin.]     What  music  is 

this?  ' 
Serv.  I  do  but  partly  know,  sir :  it  is  music  in  parts. 
Pan.  Know  you  the  musicians? 

Serv.  Wholly,  sir.  20 

Pan.  Who  play  they  to  ? 
Serv.  To  the  hearers,  sir. 
Pan.  At  whose  pleasure,  friend? 
Serv.  At  mine,  sir,  and  theirs  that  love  music. 
Pan.  Command,  I  mean,  friend. 
Serv.  Who  shall  I  command,  sir  ? 
Pan.  Friend,  we  imderstand  not  one  another:   I  am 

too  courtly,  and  thou  art  too  cunning.    At  whose 

request  do  these  men  play  ? 
Serv.  That 's  to 't,   indeed,   sir :    marry,   sir,   at  the     30 

request  of  Paris  my  lord,  who  is  there  in  person  ; 

with  him,  the  mortal  Venus,  the  heart-blood  of 

beauty,  love's  invisible  soul. 
Pan.  Who,  my  cousin  Cressida  ? 
Serv.  No,  sir,  Helen  :  could  not  you  find  out  that  by 

her  attributes  ? 
Pan.  It    should    seem,    fellow,    that   thou   hast   not 

seen    the    Lady    Cressida.     I    come    to    speak 

w4th   Paris    from   the   Prince    Troilus:   I   will 

make  a  complimental  assault  upon  him,  for  my     40 

business  seethes. 
Serv.  Sodden   business !    there 's    a    stewed    phrase 

indeed ! 

75 


Act  III.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Enter  Paris  and  Helen,  attended. 

Pan.  Fair  be  to  you,  my  lord,  and  to  all  this  fair 
company !  fair  desires,  in  all  fair  measure,  fairly 
guide  them !  especially  to  you,  fair  queen !  fair 
thoughts  be  your  fair  pillow  ! 

Helen.  Dear  lord,  you  are  full  of  fair  words. 

Pan.  You  speak  your  fair  pleasure,  sweet  queen. 

Fair  prince,  here  is  good  broken  music.  50 

Par.  You  have  broke  it,  cousin :  and,  by  my  life, 
you  shall  make  it  whole  again;  you  shall  piece 
it  out  with  a  piece  of  your  performance.  Nell, 
he  is  full  of  harmony. 

Pan.  Truly,  lady,  no. 

Helen.  O,  sir, — 

Pan.  Rude,  in  sooth ;  in  good  sooth,  very  rude. 

Par.  Well  said,  my  lord !  well,  you  say  so  in  fits. 

Pan.  I  have  business  to  my  lord,  dear  queen.     My 

lord,  will  you  vouchsafe  me  a  word  ?  60 

Helen.  Nay,  this  shall  not  hedge  us  out :  we  '11  hear 
you  sing,  certainly. 

Pan.  Well,  sweet  queen,  you  are  pleasant  with  me. 
But,  marry,  thus,  my  lord:  my  dear  lord,  and 
most  esteemed  friend,  your  brother  Troilus — 

Helen.  ^ly  Lord  Pandarus ;  honey-sweet  lord, — 

Pan.  Go  to,  sweet  queen,  go  to: — commends  him- 
self most  affectionately  to  you — 

Helen.  You  shall  not  bob  us  out  of  our  melody :   if 

you  do,  our  melancholy  upon  your  head !  70 

Pan.  Sweet  queen,  sweet  queen;  that's  a  sweet 
queen,  i'  faith. 

Helen.  And  to  make  a  sweet  lady  sad  is  a  sour  offence. 

Pan.  Nay,  that  shall  not  serve  your  turn ;  that  shall 

76 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  i. 

it  not,  in  truth,  la.     Nay,  I  care  not  for  such 

words ;   no,  no.     And,  my  lord,  he  desires  you, 

that  if  the  king  call  for  him  at  supper,  you  will 

make  his  excuse. 
Helen.  My  Lord  Pandarus, — 
Pan.  What    says    my    sweet    queen,    my    very    very     80 

sweet  queen  ? 
Par.  What  exploit 's  in  hand  ?  where  sups  he  to-night  ? 
Helen.  Nay,  but,  my  lord, — 
Pan.  What  says  my  sweet  queen  ?  My  cousin  will  fall 

out  with  you.  You  must  not  know  where  he  sups. 
Par.  I  '11  lay  my  life,  with  my  disposer  Cressida. 
Pan.  No,  no,  no  such  matter;   you  are  wide:   come 

your  disposer  is  sick. 
Par.  Well,  I  '11  make  excuse. 
Pan.  Ay,    good    my    lord.     Why    should    you    say     90 

Cressida  ?  no,  your  poor  disposer  's  sick. 
Par,  I  spy. 
Pan.  You  spy !  what  do  you  spy  ?  Come,  give  me  an 

instrument.    Now,  sweet  queen. 
Helen.  Why,  this  is  kindly  done. 
Pan,  My  niece  is  horribly  in  love  with  a  thing  you 

have,  sweet  queen. 
Helen.  She  shall  have  it,  my  lord,  if  it  be  not  my  lord 

Paris. 
Pan.  He!  no,  she '11  none  of  him ;  they  two  are  twain.  100 
Helen.  Falling  in,  after  falling  out,  may  make  them  three. 
Pan.  Come,  come,  I  '11  hear  no  more  of  this ;  I  '11  sing 

you  a  song  now. 
Helen.  Ay,  ay,  prithee  now.    By  my  troth,  sweet  lord, 

thou  hast  a  fine  forehead. 
Pan,  Ay,  you  may,  you  may. 

77 


Act  III.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Helen.  Let  thy  song  be  love :   this  love  will  undo  us 

all.    O  Cupid,  Cupid,  Cupid ! 
Pan.  Love !  ay,  that  it  shall,  i'  faith. 

Par.  Ay,  good  now,  love,  love,  nothing  but  love.  no 

Pan.  In  good  troth,  it  begins  so.  [Sings. 

Love,  love,  nothing  but  love,  still  more ! 

For,  O,  love's  bow 

Shoots  buck  and  doe : 

The  shaft  confounds, 

Not  that  it  wounds, 
But  tickles  still  the  sore. 
These  lovers  cry  Oh !  oh  !  they  die : 

Yet  that  which  seems  the  wound  to  kill. 
Doth  turn  oh  !  oh  !  to  ha !  ha !  he !  120 

So  dying  love  lives  still : 
Oh !  oh  !  a  while,  but  ha !  ha !  ha ! 
Oh  !  oh  !  groans  out  for  ha !  ha !  ha ! 

Heigh-ho ! 
Helen.  In  love,  i'  faith,  to  the  very  tip  of  the  nose. 
Par.  He  eats  nothing  but  doves,  love,  and  that  breeds 

hot  blood,  and  hot  blood  begets  hot  thoughts, 

and  hot  thoughts  beget  hot  deeds,  and  hot  deeds 

is  love. 
Pan.  Is  this  the  generation  of  love?   hot  blood,  hot  130 

thoughts  and  hot  deeds  ?     Why,  they  are  vipers : 

is  love  a  generation  of  vipers  ?   Sweet  lord,  who  's 

afield  to-day  ? 
Par.  Hector,  Deiphobus,  Helenus,  Antenor,  and  all 

the  gallantry  of  Troy :  I  would  fain  have  armed 

to-day,  but  my  Nell  would  not  have  it  so.    How 

chance  my  brother  Troilus  went  not  ? 

78 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  ii. 

Helen.  He  hangs  the  Up  at  something :  you  know  all, 
Lord  Pandarus. 

Pan,  Not    I,    honey-sweet    queen.     I    long   to    hear  140 
how  they  sped  to-day.     You  '11  remember  your 
brother's  excuse? 

Par.  To  a  hair. 

Pan.  Farewell,  sweet  queen. 

Helen.  Commend  me  to  your  niece. 

Pan.  I  will,  sweet  queen.  [Exit, 

[A  retreat  sounded. 

Par.  They  're  come  from  field :   let  us  to  Priam's  hall, 
To  greet  the  warriors.     Sweet  Helen,  I  must  woo 

you 
To  help  unarm  our  Hector :  his  stubborn  buckles, 
With  these  your  white  enchanting  fingers  touch'd, 
Shall  more  obey  than  to  the  edge  of  steel  151 

Or  force  of  Greekish  sinews ;    you  shall  do  more 
Than  all  the  island  kings, — disarm  great  Hector. 

Helen.  'Twill  make  us  proud  to  be  his  servant,  Paris ; 
Yea,  what  he  shall  receive  of  us  in  duty 
Gives  us  more  palm  in  beauty  than  we  have. 
Yea,  overshines  ourself. 

Par.  Sweet,  above  thought  I  love  thee.  [Exeunt 

Scene  II. 

An  orchard  to  Pandarus'  house. 
Enter  Pandarus  and  Troiliis's  Boy,  meeting. 

Pan.  How  now  !   where  's  thy  master  ?  at  my  cousin 

Cressida's  ? 
Boy.  No,  sir ;  he  stays  for  you  to  conduct  him  thither. 
Pan.  O,  here  he  comes. 

79 


Act  III.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Enter  Troilus. 

How  now,  how  now ! 

Tro.  Sirrah,  walk  off.  {Exit  Boy. 

Pan.  Have  you  seen  my  cousin  ? 

Tro.  Nc ,  Pandarus :   I  stalk  about  her  door. 

Like  a  strange  soul  upon  the  Stygian  banks 
Staying  for  waftage.     O,  be  thou  my  Charon,     lo 
And  give  me  swift  transportance  to  those  fields 
Where  I  may  wallow  in  the  lily-beds 
Proposed  for  the  deserver!     O  gentle  Pandarus, 
From  Cupid's  shoulder  pluck  his  painted  wings, 
And  fly  with  me  to  Cressid ! 

Pan.  Walk  here  i'  the  orchard,  I  '11  bring  her  straight. 

[Exit. 

Tro.  I  am  giddy;   expectation  whirls  me  round. 
The  imaginary  relish  is  so  sweet 
That  it  enchants  my  sense :   what  will  it  be. 
When  that  the  watery  palates  taste  indeed  20 

Love's  thrice  repured  nectar?  death,  I  fear  me, 
S wounding  destruction,  or  some  joy  too  fine, 
Too  subtle-potent,  tuned  too  sharp  in  sweetne^, 
For  the  capacity  of  my  ruder  powers : 
I  fear  it  much,  and  I  do  fear  besides 
That  I  shall  lose  distinction  in  my  joys. 
As  doth  a  battle,  when  they  charge  on  heaps 
The  enemy  flying. 

Re-enter  Pandarus. 

Pan.  She  's  making  her  ready,  she  '11  come  straight : 

you   must  be  witty  now.     She   does   so  blush,     30 
and  fetches  her  wind  so  short,  as  if  she  were 
frayed  with  a  sprite :    I  '11  fetch  her.     It  is  the 

80 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  ii. 

prettiest  villain :   she  fetches  her  breath  as  short 
as  a  new-ta'en  sparrow.  [Exit. 

Tro.  Even  such  a  passion  doth  embrace  my  bosom : 
My  heart  beats  thicker  than  a  feverous  pulse ; 
And  all  my  powers  do  their  bestowing  lose, 
Like  vassalage  at  unawares  encountering 
The  eye  of  majesty. 

Re-enter  Pandarus  with  Cressida. 

Pan.  Come,  come,  what  need  you  blush  ?  shame  's  40 
a  baby.  Here  she  is  now :  swear  the  oaths 
now  to  her  that  you  have  sworn  to  me.  What, 
are  you  gone  again  ?  you  must  be  watched  ere 
you  be  made  tame,  must  you?  Come  your 
ways,  come  your  ways ;  an  you  draw  backward, 
we  '11  put  you  i'  the  fills.  Why  do  you  not 
speak  to  her?  Come,  draw  this  curtain,  and  let 's 
see  your  picture.  Alas  the  day,  how  loath  you  are 
to  offend  daylight !  an  'twere  dark,  you  'Id  close 
sooner.  So,  so;  rub  on,  and  kiss  the  mistress.  50 
How  now !  a  kiss  in  fee-farm  !  build  there,  car- 
penter; the  air  is  sweet.  Nay,  you  shall  fight 
your  hearts  out  ere  I  part  you.  The  falcon  as  the 
tercel,  for  all  the  ducks  i'  the  river :  go  to,  go  to. 

Tro.  You  have  bereft  me  of  all  words,  lady. 

Pan.  Words  pay  no  debts,  give  her  deeds :  but 
she  '11  bereave  you  o'  the  deeds  too,  if  she  call 
your  activity  in  question.  What,  billing  again? 
Here  's  '  In  witness  whereof  the  parties  inter- 
changeably ' — Come  in,  come  in :  I  '11  go  get  a  60 
fire.  [Exit. 

Cres.  Will  you  walk  in,  my  lord? 

81 


Act  III.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Tro.  O  Cressida,  how  often  have  I  wished  me  thus ! 

Cres.  Wished,  my  lord? — The  gods  grant — O  my 
lord! 

Tro.  What  should  they  grant  ?  what  makes  this  pretty 
abruption  ?  What  too  curious  dreg  espies  my 
sweet  lady  in  the  fountain  of  our  love? 

Cres.  More  dregs  than  water,  if  my  fears  have  eyes. 

Tro,  Fears  make  devils  of  cherubins ;  they  never  see     70 
truly. 

Cres.  Blind  fear,  that  seeing  reason  leads,  finds  safer 
footing  than  blind  reason  stumbling  without  fear: 
to  fear  the  worst  oft  cures  the  worse. 

Tro.  O,  let  my  lady  apprehend  no  fear:  in  all 
Cupid's  pageant  there  is  presented  no  monster. 

Cres.  Nor  nothing  monstrous  neither  ? 

Tro.  Nothing,  but  our  undertakings ;  when  we  vow 
to  weep  seas,  live  in  fire,  eat  rocks,  tame  tigers ; 
thinking  it  harder  for  our  mistress  to  devise  80 
imposition  enough  than  for  us  to  undergo  any 
difficulty  imposed.  This  is  the  monstruosity  in 
love,  lady,  that  the  will  is  infinite  and  the  execu- 
tion confined,  that  the  desire  is  boundless  and  the 
act  a  slave  to  limit. 

Cres.  They  say,  all  lovers  swear  more  performance 
than  they  are  able,  and  yet  reserve  an  ability 
that  they  never  perform,  vowing  more  than  the 
perfection  of  ten,  and  discharging  less  than  the 
tenth  part  of  one.  They  that  have  the  voice  of  op 
lions  and  the  act  of  hares,  are  they  not  monsters  ? 

Tro.  Are  there  such  ?  such  are  not  we :  praise  us  as 
we  are  tasted,  allow  us  as  we  prove ;  our  head 
shall  go  bare  till  merit  crown  it:   no  perfection 

82 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  ii. 

in  reversion  shall  have  a  praise  in  present:  we 
will  not  name  desert  before  his  birth,  and,  being 
born,  his  addition  shall  be  humble.  Few  words 
to  fair  faith :  Troilus  shall  be  such  to  Cressid  as 
what  envy  can  say  worst  shall  be  a  mock  for  his 
truth,  and  what  truth  can  speak  truest,  not  truer  loo 
than  Troilus. 
Cres.  Will  you  walk  in,  my  lord  ? 

Re-enter  Pandarns. 

Pan.  What,  blushing  still  ?  have  you  not  done  talking 
yet? 

Cres.  Well,  uncle,  what  folly  I  commit,  I  dedicate  to 

you. 
Pan.  I  thank  you  for  that :    if  my  lord  get  a  boy  of 

you,  you  '11  give  him  me.     Be  true  to  my  lord : 

if  he  flinch,  chide  me  for  it. 
Tro.  You  know  now  your  hostages ;  your  uncle's  word  no 

and  my  firm  faith. 
Pan.  Nay,    I  '11   give   my   word   for   her   too :     our 

kindred,    though    they    be    long    ere    they    are 

wooed,  they  are  constant  being  won :    they  are 

burs,  I  can  tell  you ;    they  '11  stick  where  they 

are  thrown. 
Cres.  Boldness  comes  to  me  now,  and  brings  me  heart. 

Prince  Troilus,  I  have  loved  you  night  and  day 

For  many  weary  months. 
Tro.  Why  was  my  Cressid  then  so  hard  to  win  ?  120 

Cres.  Hard  to  seem  won  :  but  I  was  won,  my  lord, 

With  the  flrst  glance  that  ever — pardon  me ; 

If  I  confess  much,  you  will  play  the  tyrant. 

I  love  you  now ;  but  not,  till  now,  so  much 

83 


Act  III.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

But  I  might  master  it :   in  faith,  I  he ; 

My  thoughts  were  hke  unbridled  children,  grown 

Too  headstrong  for  their  mother.     See,  we  fools ! 

Why  have  I  blabb'd  ?  who  shall  be  true  to  us. 

When  we  are  so  unsecret  to  ourselves? 

But,  though  I  loved  you  well,  I  woo'd  you  not;      130 

And  yet,  good  faith,  I  wish'd  myself  a  man, 

Or  that  we  women  had  men's  privilege 

Of  speaking  first.     Sweet,  bid  me  hold  my  tongue ; 

For  in  this  rapture  I  shall  surely  speak 

The  thing  I  shall  repent.     See,  see,  your  silence, 

Cunning  in  dumbness,  from  my  weakness  draws 

My  very  soul  of  counsel !     Stop  my  mouth. 

Tro.  And  shall,  albeit  sweet  music  issues  thence. 

Pan.  Pretty,  i'  faith. 

Cres.  My  lord,  I  do  beseech  you,  pardon  me ;  140 

'Twas  not  my  purpose  thus  to  beg  a  kiss : 
I  am  ashamed ;  O  heavens !  what  have  I  done  ? 
For  this  time  will  I  take  my  leave,  my  lord. 

Tro.  Your  leave,  sweet  Cressid  ? 

Pan.  Leave!    an   you    take    leave    till    to-morrow 
morning — 

Cres.  Pray  you,  content  you. 

Tro.  What  offends  you,  lady? 

Cres.  Sir,  mine  own  company. 

Tro.  You  cannot  shun  yourself.  150 

Cres.  Let  me  go  and  try : 

I  have  a  kind  of  self  resides  with  you, 
But  an  unkind  self  that  itself  will  leave 
To  be  another's  fool.     I  would  be  gone : 
Where  is  my  wit  ?  I  know  not  what  I  speak. 

Tro,  Well  know  they  what  they  speak  that  speak  so  wisely. 

84 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  ii. 

Cres.  Perchance,  my  lord,  I  show  more  craft  than  love. 
And  fell  so  roundly  to  a  large  confession 
To  angle  for  your  thoughts:  but  you  are  wise; 
Or  else  you  love  not,  for  to  be  wise  and  love       i6o 
Exceeds  man's  might;  that  dwells  with  gods  above. 

Tro.  O  that  I  thought  it  could  be  in  a  woman — 
As,  if  it  can,  I  will  presume  in  you — 
To  feed  for  aye  her  lamp  and  flames  of  love; 
To  keep  her  constancy  in  plight  and  youth, 
Outliving  beauty's  outward,  with  a  mind 
That  doth  renew  swifter  than  blood  decays! 
Or  that  persuasion  could  but  thus  convince  me, 
That  my  integrity  and  truth  to  you 
Might  be  affronted  with  the  match  and  weight     170 
Of  such  a  winnowed  purity  in  love; 
How  were  I  then  uplifted!  but,  alas! 
I  am  as  true  as  truth's  simplicity. 
And  simpler  than  the  infancy  of  truth. 

Cres.  In  that  I  '11  war  with  you. 

Tro.  O  virtuous  fight. 

When  right  with  right  wars  who  shall  be  most  right! 
True  swains  in  love  shall  in  the  world  to  come 
Approve  their  truths  by  Troilus  :  when  their  rhymes, 
Full  of  protest,  of  oath  and  big  compare, 
Want  similes,  truth  tired  with  iteration,  180 

*  As  true  as  steel,  as  plantage  to  the  moon, 
As  sun  to  day,  as  turtle  to  her  mate, 

As  iron  to  adamant,  as  earth  to  the  centre,' 
Yet,  after  all  comparisons  of  truth, 
As  truth's  authentic  author  to  be  cited, 

*  As  true  as  Troilus  '  shall  crown  up  the  verse 
And  sanctify  the  numbers. 

85 


Act  III.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Ores.  Prophet  may  you  be! 

If  I  be  false,  or  swerve  a  hair  from  truth. 
When  time  is  old  and  hath  forgot  itself. 
When  waterdrops  have  worn  the  stones  of  Troy,  190 
And  blind  oblivion  swallow'd  cities  up, 
And  mighty  states  characterless  are  grated 
To  dusty  nothing,  yet  let  memory. 
From  false  to  false,  among  false  maids  in  love, 
Upbraid  my  falsehood!   when  they  've  said  '  as  false 
As  air,  as  water,  wind,  or  sandy  earth. 
As  fox  to  lamb,  or  wolf  to  heifer's  calf, 
Pard  to  the  hind,  or  stepdame  to  her  son,' 
'  Yea,'  let  them  say,  to  stick  the  heart  of  falsehood, 
'  As  false  as  Cressid.'  200 

Paji.  Go  to,  a  bargain  made:  seal  it,  seal  it;  I  '11  be 
the  witness.  Here  I  hold  your  hand;  here  my 
cousin's.  If  ever  you  prove  false  one  to  another, 
since  I  have  taken  such  pains  to  bring  you  to- 
gether, let  all  pitiful  goers-between  be  called  to 
the  world's  end  after  my  name;  call  them  all 
Pandars;  let  all  constant  men  be  Troiluses,  all 
false  women  Cressids,  and  all  brokers-between 
Pandars  !     Say  '  amen.' 

Tro.  Amen.  210 

Crcs.  Amen. 

Pan.  Amen.  Whereupon  I  will  show  you  a  chamber 
with  a  bed;  which  bed,  because  it  shall  not 
speak  of  your  pretty  encounters,  press  it  to  death  : 
away!  [Exeunt  Tro.  and  Cres. 

And  Cupid  grant  all  tongue-tied  maidens  here 
Bed,  chamber,  Pandar  to  provide  this  gear! 

[Exit, 

86 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  Hi. 

Scene  III. 

The  Grecian  camp. 

Flourish.     Enter  Agamemnon,  Ulysses,  Diomcdes, 
Nestor,  Ajax,  Mcnelaus,  and  Calchas. 

Cal.  Now,  princes,  for  the  service  I  have  done  yon, 
The  advantage  of  the  time  prompts  me  aloud 
To  call  for  recompense.     Appear  it  to  your  mind 
That,  through  the  sight  I  bear  in  things  to  love, 
I  have  abandoned  Troy,  left  my  possession, 
Incurr'd  a  traitor's  name ;   exposed  myself, 
From  certain  and  possessed  conveniences, 
To  doubtful  fortunes ;    sequestering  from  me  all 
That  time,  acquaintance,  custom  and  condition 
.  Made  tame  and  most  familiar  to  my  nature,  lo 

And  here,  to  do  you  service,  am  become 
As  new  into  the  world,  strange,  unacquainted : 
I  do  beseech  you,  as  in  way  of  taste, 
To  give  me  now  a  little  benefit, 
Out  of  those  many  registered  in  promise. 
Which,  you  say,  live  to  come  in  my  behalf. 

Again.  What  wouldst  thou  of  us,  Trojan?  make  demand. 

Cal.  You  have  a  Trojan  prisoner,  call'd  Antenor, 
Yesterday  took :   Troy  holds  him  very  dear. 
Oft  have  you — often  have  you  thanks  therefore — 
Desired  my  Cressid  in  right  great  exchange,  21 

Whom  Troy  hath  still  denied:   but  this  Antenor, 
I  know,  is  such  a  wrest  in  their  affairs. 
That  their  negotiations  all  must  slack, 
Wanting  his  manage ;   and  they  will  almost 
Give  us  a  prince  of  blood,  a  son  of  Priam, 

87. 


Act  III.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

In  change  of  him :   let  him  be  sent,  great  princes, 
And  he  shall  buy  my  daughter ;   and  her  presence 
Shall  quite  strike  off  all  service  I  have  done, 
In  most  accepted  pain. 

Agam.  Let  Diomedes  bear  him,         30 

And  bring  us  Cressid  hither:    Calchas  shall  have 
What  he  requests  of  us.     Good  Diomed, 
Furnish  you  fairly  for  this  interchange: 
Withal,  bring  word  if  Hector  will  to-morrow 
Be  answer'd  in  his  challenge:   Ajax  is  ready. 

Dio.  This  shall  I  undertake ;  and  'tis  a  burthen 
Which  I  am  proud  to  bear. 

[Exeunt  Diomedes  and  Calchas. 

Enter  Achilles  and  Patroclns,  before  their  tent. 

Ulyss.  Achilles  stands  i'  the  entrance  of  his  tent : 
Please  it  our  general  pass  strangely  by  him, 
As  if  he  were  forgot ;  and,  princes  all,  40 

Lay  negligent  and  loose  regard  upon  him : 
I  will  come  last.     'Tis  like  he  '11  question  me 
Why  such  unplausive  eyes  are  bent  on  him : 
If  so,  I  have  derision  medicinable. 
To  use  between  your  strangeness  and  his  pride, 
Which  his  own  will  shall  have  desire  to  drink. 
It  may  do  good :    pride  hath  no  other  glass 
To  show  itself  but  pride,  for  supple  knees 
Feed  arrogance  and  are  the  proud  man's  fees. 

Agam.  We  '11  execute  your  purpose  and  put  on  50 

A  form  of  strangeness  as  we  pass  along ; 
So  do  each  lord,  and  either  greet  him  not 
Or  else  disdainfully,  which  shall  shake  him  more 
Than  if  not  look'd  on.     T  will  lead  the  way. 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc. 


Achil.  What,  comes  the  general  to  speak  with  me? 

You  know  my  mind ;   I  '11  fight  no  more  'gainst  Troy. 

Agam.  What  says  Achilles?   vvould  he  aught  with  us? 

Nest.  Would  you,  my  lord,  aught  with  the  general  ? 

Achil  No. 

Nest.  Nothing,  my  lord.  60 

Agam.  The  better.  \^Exeunt  Agamemnon  and  Nestor. 

Achil.  Good  day,  good  day. 

Men.  How  do  you?   how  do  you?  [Exit. 

Archil.  What,  does  the  cuckold  scorn  me? 

Ajax.  How  now,  Patroclus ! 

Achil.  Good  morrow,  Ajax. 

Ajax.  Ha? 

Achil.  Good  morrow. 

Ajax.  Ay,  and  good  next  day  too.  [Exit. 

Achil.  What    mean     these    fellows?     Know    they    not 
Achilles  ?  70 

Pair.  They  pass  by  strangely :  they  were  used  to  bend. 
To  send  their  smiles  before  them  to  Achilles, 
To  come  as  humbly  as  they  used  to  creep 
To  holy  altars. 

Achil.  What,  am  I  poor  of  late? 

'Tis  certain,  greatness,,  once  fall'n  out  with  fortune, 

Must  fall  out  with  men  too :   what  the  declined  is. 

He  shall  as  soon  read  in  the  eyes  of  others 

As  feel  in  his  own  fall :    for  men,  like  butterflies. 

Show  not  their  mealy  wings  but  to  the  summer.; 

And  not  a  man,  for  being  simply  man,  80 

Hath  any  honour,  but  honour  for  those  honours 

That  are  without  him,  as  place,  riches,  and  favour. 

Prizes  of  accident  as  oft  as  merit : 

Which  when  they  fall,  as  being  slippery  standers, 

89 


Act  III.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

The  love  that  lean'd  on  them  as  shppery  too, 

Do  one  pluck  down  another  and  together 

Die  in  the  fall.     But  'tis  not  so  with  me : 

Fortune  and  I  are  friends :   I  do  enjoy 

At  ample  point  all  that  I  did  possess, 

Save  these  men's  looks ;   who  do,  methinks,  find  out 

Something  not  worth  in  me  such  rich  beholding      91 

As  they  have  often  given.     Here  is  Ulysses : 

I  '11  interrupt  his  reading. 

How  now,  Ulysses ! 

Ulyss.  Now,  great  Thetis'  son! 

AchiL  What  are  you  reading? 

Ulyss.  A  strange  fellow  here 

Writes  me :    '  That  man,  how  dearly  ever  parted. 
How  much  in  having,  or  without  or  in, 
Cannot  make  boast  to  have  that  which  he  hath. 
Nor  feels  not  what  he  owes,  but  by  reflection ; 
As  when  his  virtues  shining  upon  others  100 

Heat  them,  and  they  retort  that  heat  again 
To  the  first  giver.' 

AchiL  This  is  not  strange,  Ulysses. 

The  beauty  that  is  borne  here  in  the  face 
The  bearer  knows  not,  but  commends  itself 
To  others'  eyes :   nor  doth  the  eye  itself, 
That  most  pure  spirit  of  sense,  behold  itself. 
Not  going  from  itself ;   but  eye  to  eye  opposed 
Salutes  each  other  with  each  other's  form: 
For  speculation  turns  not  to  itself. 
Till  it  hath  travell'd  and  is  mirror'd  there  no 

Where  it  may  see  itself.     This  is  not  strange  at  all. 

Ulyss.  I  do  not  strain  at  the  position — 

It  is  familiar— but  at  the  author's  drift ; 

90 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  Hi. 

Who  in  his  circumstance  expressly  proves 
That  no  man  is  the  lord  of  any  thing, 
Though  in  and  of  him  there  be  much  consisting, 
Till  he  communicate  his  parts  to  others; 
Nor  doth  he  of  himself  know  them  for  aught, 
Till  he  behold  them  formed  in  the  applause 
Where  they're  extended;   who,  like  an  arch,  rever- 
berates ^^° 
The  voice  again;   or,  like  a  gate  of  steel 
Fronting  the  sun,  receives  and  renders  back 
His  figure  and  his  heat.    I  was  much  rapt  in  this; 
And  apprehended  here  immediately 
The  unknown  Ajax. 

Heavens,  what  a  man  is  there!   a  very  horse; 
That  has  he  knows  not  what.     Nature,  what  things 

there  are, 
Most  abject  in  regard  and  dear  in  use! 
What  things  again  most  dear  in  the  esteem 
And  poor  in  worth!    Now  shall  we  see  to-morrow— 
An  act  that  very  chance  doth  throw  upon  him —  131 
Ajax  renown' d.     O  heavens,  what  some  men  do, 
While  some  men  leave  to  do! 
How  some  men  creep  in  skittish  fortune's  hall, 
While  others  play  the  idiots  in  her  eyes ! 
How  one  man  eats  into  another's  pride, 
While  pride  is  fasting  in  his  wantonness! 
To  see  these  Grecian  lords!     Why,  even  already 
They  clap  the  lubber  Ajax  on  the  shoulder. 
As  if  his  foot  were  on  brave  Hector's  breast         140 
And  great  Troy  shrieking. 
Achil.  I  do  believe  it,  for  they  pass'd  by  me 

As  misers  do  by  beggars,  neither  gave  to  me 

91 


Act  III.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Good  word  nor  look :    what,  are  my  deeds  forgot  ? 
L^/3'^^.  Time  hath,  my  lord,  a  wallet  at  his  back 
Wherein  he  puts  alms  for  oblivion, 
A  great-sized  monster  of  ingratitudes: 
Those  scraps  are  good  deeds  past,  which  are  devour'd 
As  fast  as  they  are  made,  forgot  as  soon 
As  done:  perseverance,  dear  my  lord,  150 

Keeps  honour  bright :  to  have  done,  is  to  hang 
Quite  out  of  fashion,  like  a  rusty  mail 
In  monumental  mockery.     Take  the  instant  way; 
For  honour  travels  in  a  strait  so  narrow. 
Where  one  but  goes  abreast:   keep  then  the  path; 
For  emulation  hath  a  thousand  sons 
That  one  by  one  pursue:  if  you  give  way. 
Or  hedge  aside  from  the  direct  forthright. 
Like  to  an  enter'd  tide  they  all  rush  by 
And  leave  you  hindmost:  160 

Or,  like  a  gallant  horse  fall'n  in  first  rank, 
Lie  there  for  pavement  to  the  abject  rear, 
O'er-run  and  trampled  on:    then  what  they  do  in 

present. 
Though  less  than  yours  in  past,  must  o'ertop  yours; 
For  time  is  like  a  fashionable  host 
That  slightly  shakes  his  parting  guest  by  the  hand, 
And  with  his  arms  outstretch'd,  as  he  would  fly. 
Grasps  in  the  comer:   welcome  ever  smiles. 
And  farewell  goes  out  sighing.  O,  let  not  virtue  seek 
Remuneration  for  the  thing  it  was;  170 

For  beauty,  wit. 

High  birth,  vigour  of  bone,  desert  in  service. 
Love,  friendship,  charity,  are  subjects  all 
To  envious  and  calumniating  time. 

92 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  iii. 

One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin; 
That  all  with  one  consent  praise  new-born  gawds, 
Though  they  are  made  and  moulded  of  things  past, 
And  give  to  dust  that  is  a  Httle  gilt 
More  laud  than  gilt  o'er-dusted. 
The  present  eye  praises  the  present  object:  i8o 

Then  marvel  not,  thou  great  and  complete  man, 
That  all  the  Greeks  begin  to  worship  Ajax; 
Since  things  in  motion  sooner  catch  the  eye 
Than  what  not  stirs.     The  cry  went  once  on  thee, 
And  still  it  might,  and  yet  it  may  again. 
If  thou  wouldst  not  entomb  thyself  alive 
And  case  thy  reputation  in  thy  tent. 
Whose  glorious  deeds,  but  in  these  fields  of  late. 
Made  emulous  missions  'mongst  the  gods  themselves 
And  drave  great  Mars  to  faction. 

Achil.  Of  this  my  privacy     190 

I  have  strong  reasons. 

Ulyss.  But  'gainst  your  privacy 

The  reasons  are  more  potent  and  heroical: 
'Tis  known,  Achilles,  that  you  are  in  love 
With  one  of  Priam's  daughters. 

Achil.  Ha!   known? 

Ulyss.  Is  that  a  wonder? 

The  providence  that 's  in  a  watchful  state 
Knows  almost  every  grain  of  Plutus'  gold, 
Finds  bottom  in  the  uncomprehensive  deeps, 
Keeps  place  with  thought,  and  almost  like  the  gods 
Does  thoughts  unveil  in  their  dumb  cradles.  200 

There  is  a  mystery,  with  whom  relation 
Durst  never  meddle,  in  the  soul  of  state ; 
Which  hath  an  operation  more  divine 

93 


Act  III.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Than  breath  or  pen  can  give  expressure  to : 

All  the  commerce  that  you  have  had  with  Troj 

As  perfectly  is  ours  as  yours,  my  lord; 

And  better  would  it  fit  Achilles  much 

To  throw  down  Hector  than  Polyxena: 

But  it  must  grieve  young  Pyrrhus  now  at  home, 

When  fame  shall  in  our  islands  sound  her  trump  ; 

And  all  the  Greekish  girls  shall  tripping  sing       211 

'  Great  Hector's  sister  did  Achilles  win, 

But  our  great  Ajax  bravely  beat  down  him.' 

Farewell,  my  lord:  I  as  your  lover  speak; 

The  fool  slides  o'er  the  ice  that  you  should  break. 

[Exit. 

Pair.  To  this  effect,  Achilles,  have  I  moved  you: 
A  woman  impudent  and  mannish  grown 
Is  not  more  loathed  than  an  effeminate  man 
In  time  of  action.     I  stand  condemn'd  for  this; 
They  think  my  little  stomach  to  the  war  220 

And  your  great  love  to  me  restrains  you  thus : 
Sweet,  rouse  yourself,  and  the  weak  wanton  Cupid 
Shall  from  your  neck  unloose  his  amorous  fold. 
And,  like  a  dew-drop  from  the  lion's  mane. 
Be  shook  to  air. 

Achil.  Shall  Ajax  fight  with  Hector? 

Pair,  Ay,  and  perhaps  receive  much  honour  by  him. 

Achil.  I  see  my  reputation  is  at  stake; 
My  fame  is  shrewdly  gored. 

Pair.  O,  then,  beware; 

Those  wounds  heal  ill  that  men  do  give  themselves: 
Omission  to  do  what  is  necessary  230 

Seals  a  commission  to  a  blank  of  danger; 
And  danger,  like  an  ague,  subtly  taints 

94 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  III.  Sc.  iii. 

Even  then  when  we  sit  idly  in  the  sun. 
Achil.  Go  call  Thersites  hither,  sweet  Patroclus 
I  '11  send  the  fool  to  Ajax,  and  desire  him 
To  invite  the  Trojan  lords  after  the  combat 
To  see  us  here  unarm'd :   I  have  a  w^oman's  longing, 
An  appetite  that  I  am  sick  withal, 
To  see  great  Hector  in  his  weeds  of  peace ; 
To  talk  with  him,  and  to  behold  his  visage,  240 

Even  to  my  full  of  view. — A  labour  saved  1 

Enter  Thersites. 

Ther.  A  wonder ! 

Achil.  What? 

Ther.  Ajax  goes  up  and  down  the  field,  asking  for 
himself. 

Achil.  How  so? 

Ther.  He  must  fight  singly  to-morrow  with  Hector, 
and  is  so  prophetically  proud  of  an  heroical 
cudgelling  that  he  raves  in  saying  nothing. 

Achil.  How  can  that  be  ?  250 

Ther.  Whv,  a'  stalks  up  and  down  like  a  peacock, — 
a  stride  and  a  stand :  ruminates  like  an  hostess 
that  hath  no  arithmetic  but  her  brain  to  set  down 
her  reckoning :  bites  his  lip  with  a  politic  regard, 
as  who  should  say  '  There  were  wit  in  this  head, 
an  'twould  out : '  and  so  there  is ;  but  it  lies  as 
coldly  in  him  as  fire  in  a"  flint,  which  will  not 
show  without  knocking.  The  man  's  undone  for 
ever;  for  if  Hector  break  not  his  neck  i'  the 
combat,  he  11  break  't  himself  in  vain-glory.  He  260 
knows  not  me:  I  said  'Good  morrow,  Ajax;' 
and  he  replies  '  Thanks,   Agamemnon.'     What 

95 


Act  III.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

think  you  of  this  man,  that  takes  me  for  the 
general  ?    He  's  grown  a  very  land-fish,  language- 
less,  a  monster.     A  plague  of  opinion !    a  man 
may  wear  it  on  both  sides,  like  a  leather  jerkin. 
Achil.  Thou  must  be  my  ambassador  to  him,  Thersites. 

Ther.  Who,  I  ?  why,  he  '11  answer  nobody ;   he  pro- 
fesses not  answering  :    speaking  is  for  beggars  ; 
he  wears  his  tongue  in  's  arms.     I  will  put  on  270 
his  presence  :  let  Patroclus  make  demands  to  me, 
you  shall  see  the  pageant  of  Ajax. 

Achil.  To  him,  Patroclus :  tell  him  I  humbly  desire 
the  valiant  Ajax  to  invite  the  most  valorous 
Hector  to  come  unarmed  to  my  tent,  and  to 
procure  safe-conduct  for  his  person  of  the  mag- 
nanimous and  most  illustrious  six-or-seven-times- 
honoured  captain-general  of  the  Grecian  army, 
Agamemnon,  et  cetera.    Do  this. 

Pair.  Jove  bless  great  Ajax.  280 

Ther.  Hum ! 

Pair.  I  come  from  the  w^orthy  Achilles, — 

Ther.  Ha! 

Patr.  Who  most  humbly  desires  you  to  invite  Hector 
to  his  tent, — 

Ther.  Hum ! 

Patr.  And  to  procure  safe-conduct  from  Agamemnon. 

Ther.  Agamemnon? 

Patr.  Ay,  my  lord. 

Ther.  Ha!  290 

Patr.  What  say  you  to  't  ? 

Ther.  God  be  wi'  you,  with  all  my  heart. 

Patr.  Your  answer,  sir. 

Ther.  If  to-morrow  be  a  fair  day,  by  eleven  of  the 

96 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  i. 

clock  it  will  go  one  way  or  other:    howsoever, 
he  shall  pay  for  me  ere  he  has  me. 

Pair.  Your  answer,  sir. 

Ther.  Fare  you  well,  with  all  my  heart. 

Achil.  Why,  but  he  is  not  in  this  tune,  is  he  ? 

Ther.  No,  but  he  's  out  o'  tune  thus.     What  music  300 
w^il  be  in  him  when  Hector  has  knocked  out 
his  brains,  I  know  not;    but,  I  am  sure,  none, 
unless  the  fiddler  Apollo  get  his  sinews  to  make 
catlings  on. 

Achil.  Come,  thou  shalt  bear  a  letter  to  him  straight. 

llicr.  Let  me  bear  another  to  his  horse;   for  that's 
the  more  capable  creature. 

Achil.  My  mind  is  troubled  like  a  fountain  stirr'd. 
And  I  myself  see  not  the  bottom  of  it. 

[Exeunt  Achilles  and  Patroclns. 

Ther.  Would  the  fountain  of  your  mind  were  clear  310 
again,  that  I  might  water  an  ass  at  it!     I  had 
rather  be  a  tick  in  a  sheep  than  such  a  valiant 
ignorance.-  [Exit. 

ACT   FOURTH. 
Scene  I. 

Troy.    A  street. 

Enter,  at  one  side,  Apneas,  and  Servant  with  a  torch;  at 
the  other,  Paris,  Deiphohus,  Antenor,  Diomedes,  and 
others,  with  torches. 

Par.  See,  ho!  who  is  that  there ? 

Dei.  It  is  the  Lord  .^neas. 

jEne.  Is  the  prince  there  in  person  ? 

97 


Act  IV.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Had  I  so  good  occasion  to  lie  long 

As  you,  Prince  Paris,  nothing  but  heavenly  business 

Should  rob  my  bed-mate  of  my  company. 

Dio.  That 's  my  mind  too.     Good  morrow,  Lord  ^neas. 

Par.  A  valiant  Greek,  ^neas, — take  his  hand, — 
Witness  the  process  of  your  speech,  wherein 
You  told  how  Diomed  a  whole  week  by  days  lo 

Did  haunt  you  in  the  field. 

^ne.  Health  to  you,  valiant  sir. 

During  all  question  of  the  gentle  truce ; 

But  when  I  meet  you  arm'd,  as  black  defiance 

As  heart  can  think  or  courage  execute. 

Dio.  The  one  and  other  Diomed  embraces. 

Our  bloods  are  now  in  calm ;  and,  so  long,  health ; 

But  when  contention  and  occasion  meet. 

By  Jove,  I  '11  play  the  hunter  for  thy  life 

With  all  my  force,  pursuit  and  policy.  20 

^ne.  And  thou  shalt  hunt  a  lion,  that  will  fly 

With  his  face  backward.     In  humane  gentleness, 
Welcome  to  Troy !  now,  by  Anchises'  life. 
Welcome,  indeed !    By  Venus'  hand  I  swear, 
No  man  alive  can  love  in  such  a  sort 
The  thing  he  means  to  kill  more  excellently. 

Dio.  We  sympathise.    Jove,  let  ^neas  live. 
If  to  my  sword  his  fate  be  not  the  glory, 
A  thousand  complete  courses  of  the  sun ! 
But,  in  mine  emulous  honour,  let  him  die,  30 

With  every  joint  a  wound,  and  that  to-morrow. 

^ne.  We  know  each  other  well. 

Dio.  We  do ;  and  long  to  know  each  other  worse. 

Par.  This  is  the  most  despiteful  gentle  greeting, 
The  noblest  hateful  love,  that  e'er  I  heard  of. 
98 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  i. 

What  business,  lord,  so  early  ? 

\^nc.  I  was  sent  for  to  the  king ;  but  why,  I  know  not. 

Par.  His  purpose  meets  you :   'twas  to  bring  this  Greek 
To  Calchas'  house ;  and  there  to  render  him. 
For  the  enf reed  Antenor,  the  fair  Cressid :  40 

Let 's  have  your  company,  or,  if  you  please. 
Haste  there  before  us.     I  constantly  do  think, 
Or  rather,  call  my  thought  a  certain  knowledge, 
My  brother  Troilus  lodges  there  to-night : 
Rouse  him  and  give  him  note  of  our  approach. 
With  the  whole  quality  wherefore :   I  fear 
We  shall  be  much  unwelcome. 

JEne.  That  I  assure  you: 

Troilus  had  rather  Troy  were  borne  to  Greece 
Than  Cressid  borne  from  Troy. 

Par.  There  is  no  help ; 

The  bitter  disposition  of  the  time  50 

Will  have  it  so.     On,  lord ;   we  '11  follow  you. 

^ne.  Good  morrow,  all.  {Exit  with  Servant. 

Par.  And  tell  me,  noble  Diomed,  faith,  tell  me  true, 
Even  in  the  soul  of  sound  good-fellowship, 
Who,  in  your  thoughts,  deserves  fair  Helen  best, 
Myself  or  Menelaus  ? 

Dio.  Both  alike: 

He  merits  well  to  have  her  that  doth  seek  her, 

Not  making  any  scruple  of  her  soilure, 

With  such  a  hell  of  pain  and  world  of  charge  ; 

And  you  as  well  to  keep  her,  that  defend  her,        60 

Nor  palating  the  taste  of  her  dishonour. 

With  such  a  costly  loss  of  wealth  and  friends : 

He,  like  a  puling  cuckold,  would  drink  up 

The  lees  and  dregs  of  a  flat  tamed  piece ; 

99 


Act  IV.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

You,  like  a  lecher,  out  of  whorish  loins 

Are  pleased  to  breed  out  your  inheritors : 

Both  merits  poised,  each  weighs  nor  less  nor  more, 

But  he  as  he,  the  heavier  for  a  whore. 

Par.  You  are  too  bitter  to  your  countrywoman. 

Dio.  She  's  bitter  to  her  country  :    hear  me,  Paris  :        70 
For  every  false  drop  in  her  bawdy  veins 
A  Grecian's  life  hath  sunk ;    for  every  scruple 
Of  her  contaminated  carrion  weight, 
A  Trojan  hath  been  slain :   since  she  could  speak, 
She  hath  not  given  so  many  good  words  breath 
As  for  her  Greeks  and  Trojans  suffer'd  death. 

Par.  Fair  Diomed,  you  do  as  chapmen  do, 

Dispraise  the  thing  that  you  desire  to  buy : 

But  we  in  silence  hold  this  virtue  well. 

We  '11  not  commend  what  we  intend  to  sell.  80 

Here  lies  our  way.  {Exeunt, 

Scene  II. 

Court  of  Pandarus'  house. 

Enter  Troilus  and  Cressida. 

Pro.  Dear,  trouble  not  yourself :   the  morn  is  cold. 
Cres.  Then,  sweet  my  lord,  I  '11  call  mine  uncle  down ; 

He  shall  unbolt  the  gates. 
Pro.  Trouble  him  not; 

To  bed,  to  bed :   sleep  kill  those  pretty  eyes, 

And  give  as  soft  attachment  to  thy  senses 

As  infants'  empty  of  all  thought ! 
Cres.  Good  morrow,  then. 

Pro.  I  prithee  now,  to  bed. 

Cres.  Are  you  a-weary  of  me? 

100 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  ii. 

Tro.  O  Cressida !   but  that  the  busy  day, 

Waked  by  the  lark,  hath  roused  the  ribald  crows. 
And  dreaming  night  will  hide  our  joys  no  longer,  lo 
I  would  not  from  thee. 

Cres.  Night  hath  been  too  brief. 

Tro.  Beshrew  the  witch  !  with  venomous  wights  she  stays 
As  tediously  as  hell,  but  flies  the  grasps  of  love 
With  wings  more  momentary-swift  than  thought. 
You  will  catch  cold,  and  curse  me. 

Cres.  Prithee,  tarry: 

You  men  will  never  tarry. 

0  foolish  Cressid !    I  might  have  still  held  ofif, 
Andthenyouwouldhavetarried.  Hark!  there 'soneup. 

Pan.   [Within]   What, 's  all  the  doors  open  here? 

Tro.  It  is  your  uncle.  20 

Cres.  A  pestilence  on  him !   now  will  he  be  mocking : 

1  shall  have  such  a  life ! 

Enter  Pan  dams. 

Pan.  How  now,  how  now !   how  go  maidenheads  ? 

Here,  you  maid !   where  's  my  cousin  Cressid  ? 
Cres.  Go  hang  yourself,  you  naughty  mocking  uncle ! 

You  bring  me  to  do — and  then  you  flout  me  too. 
Pan.  To  do  what?   to  do  what?   let  her  say  what: 

what  have  I  brought  you  to  do? 
Cres,  Come,  come,  beshrew  your  heart !   you  '11  ne'er 

be  good,  nor  suffer  others.  30 

Pan.  Ha,  ha !     Alas,  poor  wretch !    ah,  poor  capoc- 

chia !    hast  not  slept  to-night  ?    would  he  not,  a 

naughty  man,  let  it  sleep  ?   a  bugbear  take  him ! 
Cres.  Did  not  I  tell  you?   would  he  were  knock'd  i'  the 
head!  [One  knocks. 

lOI 


Act  IV.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Who  's  that  at  door  ?   good  uncle,  go  and  see. 

My  lord,  come  you  again  into  my  chamber. 

You  smile  and  mock  me,  as  if  I  meant  naughtily. 
Tro.  Ha,  ha! 

Cres.  Come,  you  are  deceived,  I  think  of  no  such  thing. 

{Knocking. 

How  earnestly  they  knock !     Pray  you,  come  in  :     40 

I  would  not  for  half  Troy  have  you  seen  here. 

[Exeunt  Troilns  and  Cressida. 
Pan.  Who  's  there  ?    what 's  the  matter  ?    will  you 

beat  down  the  door  ?     How  now !     what 's  the 

matter  ? 

Enter  ^neas. 

jEne.  Good  morrow,  lord,  good  morrow. 

Pan.  Who  's  there  ?  my  Lord  ^-Eneas !     By  my  troth, 

I  knew  you  no't :   what  news  with  you  so  early  ? 
j^ne.  Is  not  prince  Troilus  here? 
Pan.  Here !   what  should  he  do  here  ? 
^^Ene.  Come,  he  is  here,  my  lord ;   do  not  deny  him :     50 

It  doth  import  him  much  to  speak  with  me. 
Pan.  Is  he  here,  say  you  ?  'tis  more  than  I  know,  I  '11 

be  sworn :    for  my  own  part,  I  came  in  late. 

What  should  he  do  here? 
JEne.  Who !   nay,  then :   come,  come,  you  '11  do  him 

wrong  ere  you  are  ware :    you  '11  be  so  true  to 

him,  to  be  false  to  him:    do  not  you  know  of 

him,  but  yet  go  fetch  him  hither;   go. 

Re-enter  Troilns. 

Tro.  How  now !  what 's  the  matter  ? 
^ne.  My  lord,  I  scarce  have  leisure  to  salute  you,        60 
My  matter  is  so  rash :   there  is  at  hand 

102 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  ii. 

Paris  your  brother  and  Deiphobus, 
The  Grecian  Diomed,  and  our  Antenor 
Dehver'd  to  us ;   and  for  him  forthwith, 
Ere  the  first  sacrifice,  within  this  hour. 
We  must  give  up  to  Diomedes'  hand 
The  Lady  Cressida. 

Tro.  Is  it  so  concluded? 

^ne.  By  Priam  and  the  general  state  of  Troy. 
They  are  at  hand  and  ready  to  effect  it. 

Tro.  How  my  achievements  mock  me !  70 

I  will  go  meet  them :  and,  my  Lord  ^neas, 
We  met  by  chance ;  you  did  not  find  me  here. 

^ne.  Good,  good,  my  lord ;   the  secrets  of  nature 
Have  not  more  gift  in  taciturnity. 

[Exeunt  Troilus  and  ^neas. 

Pan.  Is  't  possible?  no  sooner  got  but  lost?  The 
devil  take  Antenor!  the  young  prince  will  go 
mad :  a  plague  upon  Antenor !  I  would  they 
had  broke  's  neck ! 

Re-enter  Cressida. 

Crcs.  How  now !  what 's  the  matter  ?  who  was  here  ? 
Pan.  Ah,  ah  !  80 

Cres.  Why  sigh  you  so  profoundly?    where  's  my 

lord  ?     gone !     Tell    me,    sweet    uncle,    what 's 

the  matter  ? 
Pan.  Would  I  were  as  deep  under  the  earth  as  I  am 

above ! 
Crcs.  O  the  gods !     What 's  the  matter  ? 
Pan.  Prithee,  get  thee  in :    would  thou  hadst  ne'er 

been  born !     I  knew  thou  wouldst  be  his  death : 

O,  poor  gentleman!     A  plague  upon  Antenor! 

103 


Act  IV.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Cres.  Good  uncle,  I  beseech  you,  on  my  knees  I  90 
beseech  you,  what 's  the  matter  ? 

Pan.  Thou  must  be  gone,  wench,  thou  must  be 
gone ;  thou  art  changed  for  Antenor :  thou 
must  to  thy  father,  and  be  gone  from  Troilus : 
'twill  be  his  death  ;  'twill  be  his  bane ;  he  cannot 
bear  it. 

Cres.  O  you  immortal  gods !   T  will  not  go. 

Pan.  Thou  must. 

Cres.  I  will  not,  uncle  :   I  have  forgot  my  father  ; 

I  know  no  touch  of  consanguinity ;  100 

No  kin,  no  love,  no  blood,  no  soul  so  near  me 
As  the  sweet  Troilus  !     O  you  gods  divine ! 
Make  Cressid's  name  the  very  crown  of  falsehood. 
If  ever  she  leave  Troilus !     Time,  force,  and  death. 
Do  to  this  body  what  extremes  you  can ; 
But  the  strong  base  and  building  of  my  love 
Is  as  the  very  centre  of  the  earth. 
Drawing  all  things  to  it.     I  '11  go  in  and  weep, — 

Pan.  Do,  do.  109 

Cres.  Tear  my  bright  hair  and  scratch  my  praised  cheeks. 
Crack  my  clear  voice  with  sobs,  and  break  my  heart 
With  sounding  Troilus.     I  will  not  go  from  Troy. 

[Exetmt. 

Scene  III. 

Before  Pandams'  house. 

Enter  Paris,  Troilus,  Aineas,  DeiphobiiSj  Antenor,  and 
Diomedes. 

Par.  It  is  great  morning,  and  the  hour  prefix'd 
For  her  delivery  to  this  valiant  Greek 
Comes  fast  upon :   good  my  brother  Troilus, 

104 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  iv. 

Tell  you  the  lady  what  she  is  to  do, 

And  haste  her  to  the  purpose. 
Tro.  Walk  mto  her  house; 

I  '11  bring  her  to  the  Grecian  presently: 

And  to  his  hand  when  I  deliver  her, 

Think  it  an  altar,  and  thy  brother  Troilus 

A  priest,  there  offering  to  it  his  own  heart.        [Exit. 
Par.  I  know  what  'tis  to  love;  lo 

And  would,  as  I  shall  pity,  I  could  help! 

Please  you  walk  in,  my  lords.  [Exeunt. 

Scene  IV. 

A  room  in  Pandarus'  house. 

Enter  Pandarus  and  Cressida. 

Pan.  Be  moderate,  be  moderate. 
Crcs.  Why  tell  you  me  of  moderation? 

The  grief  is  fine,  full,  perfect,  that  I  taste. 

And  violenteth  in  a  sense  as  strong 

As  that  which  causeth  it:  how  can  I  moderate  it? 

If  I  could  temporise  with  my  affection. 

Or  brew  it  to  a  weak  and  colder  palate. 

The  like  allayment  could  I  give  my  grief: 

My  love  admits  no  qualifying  dross; 

No  more  my  grief,  in  such  a  precious  loss.  lo 

Enter  Troilus. 

Pan.  Here,  here,  here  he  comes.     Ah,  sweet  ducks! 
Cres.  O  Troilus  !   Troilus  !  [Embracing  him. 

Pan.  What  a  pair  of  spectacles  is  here!     Let  me 
embrace  too.     '  O  heart,'  as  the  goodly  saying  is, 

105 


Act  IV.  Sc.  iv.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

'  O  heart,  heavy  heart, 
Why  sigh'st  thou  without  breaking?  ' 

where  he  answers  again, 

'  Because  thou  canst  not  ease  thy  smart 
By  friendship  nor  by  speaking.' 

There  was  never  a  truer  rhyme.     Let  us  cast     20 
away  nothing,  for  we  may  Uve  to  have  need  of 
such  a  verse:   we  see  it,  we  see  it.     How  now, 
lambs ! 

Tro.  Cressid,  I  love  thee  in  so  strain'd  a  purity, 
That  the  blest  gods,  as  angry  with  my  fancy, 
More  bright  in  zeal  than  the  devotion  which 
Cold  lips  blow  to  their  deities,  take  thee  from  me. 

Cres.  Have  the  gods  envy? 

Pan.  Ay,  ay,  ay,  ay;   'tis  too  plain  a  case. 

Cres.  And  is  it  true  that  I  must  go  from  Troy?  30 

Tro.  A  hateful  truth. 

Cres.  What,  and  from  Troilus  too  ? 

Tro.  From  Troy  and  Troilus. 

Cres.  Is  it  possible  ? 

Tro.  And  suddenly;  where  injury  of  chance 
Puts  back  leave-taking,  justles  roughly  by 
All  time  of  pause,  rudely  beguiles  our  hps 
Of  all  rejoindure,  forcibly  prevents 
Our  lock'd  embrasures,  strangles  our  dear  vows 
Even  in  the  birth  of  our  own  labouring  breath: 
We  two,  that  with  so  many  thousand  sighs 
Did  buy  each  other,  must  poorly  sell  ourselves      40 
With  the  rude  brevity  and  discharge  of  one. 
Injurious  time  now  with  a  robber's  haste 
Crams  his  rich  thievery  up,  he  knows  not  how 

.106 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  iv. 

As  many  farewells  as  be  stars  in  heaven, 

With  distinct  breath  and  consign'd  kisses  to  them, 

He  fumbles  up  into  a  loose  adieu, 

And  scants  us  with  a  single  famish'd  kiss, 

Distasted  with  the  salt  of  broken  tears. 
^ne.   IWithin]   My  lord,  is  the  lady  ready? 
Tro.  Hark !   you  are  call'd :  some  say  the  Genius  so      50 

Cries  '  Come ! '   to  him  that  instantly  must  die. 

Bid  them  have  patience ;  she  shall  come  anon. 
Pan.  Where  are  my  tears  ?  rain,  to  lay  this  wind,  or 

my  heart  will  be  blown  up  by  the  root.  [Exit. 

Cres.  I  must  then  to  the  Grecians  ? 
Tro.  No  remedy. 

Cres.  A  woeful  Cressid  'mongst  the  merry  Greeks ! 

When  shall  we  see  again  ? 
Tro.  Hear  me,  my  love :  be  thou  but  true  of  heart. 
Cres.  I  true !  how  now  !  what  wicked  deem  is  this  ? 
Tro.  Nay,  we  must  use  expostulation  kindly,  60 

For  it  is  parting  from  us : 

I  speak  not '  be  thou  true,'  as  fearing  thee ; 

For  I  will  throw  my  glove  to  Death  himself, 

That  there  's  no  maculation  in  thy  heart : 

But  '  be  thou  true '  say  I,  to  fashion  in 

My  sequent  protestation  ;  be  thou  true, 

And  I  will  see  thee. 
Cres.  O,  you  shall  be  exposed,  my  lord,  to  dangers 

As  infinite  as  imminent :  but  I  '11  be  true. 
Tro.  And   I  '11   grow    friend   with    danger.      Wear   this 
sleeve.  70 

Cres.  And  you  this  glove.     When  shall  I  see  you? 
Tro.  I  will  corrupt  the  Grecian  sentinels, 

To  give  thee  nightly  visitation. 

107 


Act  IV.  Sc.  iv.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

But  yet,  be  true. 

Cres.  O  heavens  !   '  Be  true  '  again ! 

Tro.  Hear  why  I  speak  it,  love : 

The  Grecian  youths  are  full  of  quality ; 

They  're  loving,  well  composed  with  gifts  of  nature, 

And  flowing  o'er  with  arts  and  exercise  : 

How  novelties  may  move  and  parts  with  person, 

Alas,  a  kind  of  godly  jealousy —  80 

Which,  I  beseech  you,  call  a  virtuous  sin — 

Makes  me  afeard. 

Cres.  O  heavens !  you  love  me  not. 

Tro.  Die  I  a  villain  then ! 

In  this  I  do  not  call  your  faith  in  question, 
So  mainly  as  my  merit :    I  cannot  sing, 
Nor  heel  the  high  lavolt,  nor  sweeten  talk. 
Nor  play  at  subtle  games ;   fair  virtues  all, 
To  which  the  Grecians  are  most  prompt  and  preg- 
nant: 
But  I  can  tell  that  in  each  grace  of  these 
There  lurks  a  still  and  dumb-discoursive  devil         90 
That  tempts  most  cunningly :  but  be  not  tempted. 

Cres.  Do  you  think  I  will  ? 

Tro.  No: 

But  something  may  be  done  that  we  will  not : 
And  sometimes  we  are  devils  to  ourselves, 
When  we  will  tempt  the  frailty  of  our  powers, 
Presuming  on  their  changeful  potency. 

^ne.    [Within']   Nay,  good  my  lord! 

Tro.  Come,  kiss ;  and  let  us  part. 

Far.    [Within']   Brother  Troilus ! 

Tro.  Good  brother,  come  you  hither ; 

And  bring  ^neas  and  the  Grecian  with  you.  100 

108 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  iv. 

Cres.  My  lord,  will  you  be  true  ? 

Tro.  Who,  I  ?   alas,  it  is  my  vice,  my  fault : 

Whiles  others  fish,  with  craft  for  great  opinion, 

I  with  great  truth  catch  mere  simplicity ; 

Whilst  some  with  cunning  gild  their  copper  crowns. 

With  truth  and  plainness  I  do  wear  mine  bare. 

Fear  not  my  truth :   the  moral  of  my  wit 

Is  '  plain  and  true  ' ;   there  's  all  the  reach  of  it. 

Enter  JEneas,  Paris,  Antenor,  Deiphohus,  and  Diomedes. 

Welcome,  Sir  Diomed!   here  is  the  lady 
Which  for  Antenor  we  deliver  you:  no 

At  the  port,  lord,  I  '11  give  her  to  thy  hand  ; 
■  And  by  the  way  possess  thee  what  she  is. 
Entreat  her  fair ;   and,  by  my  soul,  fair  Greek, 
If  e'er  thou  stand  at  mercy  of  my  sword. 
Name  Cressid,  and  thy  life  shall  be  as  safe 
As  Priam  is  in  Ilion. 

Dio.  Fair  Lady  Cressid, 

So  please  you,  save  the  thanks  this  prince  expects : 
The  lustre  in  your  eye,  heaven  in  your  cheek. 
Pleads  your  fair  usage ;   and  to  Diomed 
You  shall  be  mistress,  and  command  him  wholly.  120 

Tro.  Grecian,  thou  dost  not  use  me  courteously, 
To  shame  the  zeal  of  my  petition  to  thee 
In  praising  her:   I  tell  thee,  lord  of  Greece, 
She  is  as  far  high-soaring  o'er  thy  praises 
As  thou  unworthy  to  be  call'd  her  servant. 
I  charge  thee  use  her  well,  even  for  my  charge ; 
For,  by  the  dreadful  Pluto,  if  thou  dost  not. 
Though  the  great  bulk  Achilles  be  thy  guard, 
I  '11  cut  thy  throat. 

109 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Dio.  O,  be  not  moved,  Prince  Troilus : 

Let  me  be  privileged  by  my  place  and  message      130 
To  be  a  speaker  free ;  when  I  am  hence, 
I  '11  answer  to  my  lust :  and  know  you,  lord, 
I  '11  nothing  do  on  charge :    to  her  own  worth 
She  shall  be  prized ;  but  that  you  say  '  Be  't  so/ 
I  '11  speak  it  in  my  spirit  and  honour  '  No ! ' 

Tro.  Come,  to  the  port.     I  '11  tell  thee,  Diomed, 

This  brave  shall  oft  make  thee  to  hide  thy  head. 
Lady,  give  me  your  hand ;  and,  as  we  walk. 
To  our  own  selves  bend  we  our  needful  talk. 

[Exeunt  Troihis,  Cressida,  and  Diomedes. 
[A  trumpet  sounds. 

Par.  Hark !     Hector's  trumpet. 

^ne.  How  have  we  spent  this  morning !  140 

The  prince  must  think  me  tardy  and  remiss, 
That  swore  to  ride  before  him  to  the  field. 

Par.  'Tis  Troilus'  fault :  come,  come,  to  field  with  him. 

Dei.  Let  us  make  ready  straight. 

^ne.  Yea,  with  a  bridegroom's  fresh  alacrity, 
Let  us  address  to  tend  on  Hector's  heels : 
The  glory  of  our  Troy  doth  this  day  lie 
On  his  fair  worth  and  single  chivalry.  {Exeunt. 

Scene  V. 

The  Grecian  camp.     Lists  set  out. 

Enter  Ajax,  armed;  Agamemnon,  Achilles,  Patroclus, 
Menelaus,  Ulysses,  Nestor,  and  others. 

Agam.  Here  art  thou  in  appointment  fresh  and  fair, 
Anticipating  time  with  starting  courage. 
Give  with  thy  trumpet  a  loud  note  to  Troy, 

no 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  v. 

Thou  dreadful  Ajax,  that  the  appalled  air 

May  pierce  the  head  of  the  great  combatant 

And  hale  him  hither. 
Ajax.  Thou,  trumpet,  there  's  my  purse. 

Now  crack  thy  lungs,  and  split  thy  brazen  pipe  : 

Blow,  villain,  till  thy  sphered  bias  cheek 

Outswell  the  colic  of  puff'd  Aquilon : 

Come,  stretch  thy  chest,  and  left  thy  eyes  spout  blood ; 

Thou  blow'st  for  Hector.  [Trumpet  sounds,     ii 

Ulyss.  No  trumpet  answers. 
Achil.  'Tis  but  early  days. 

Again.  Is  not  yond  Diomed,  with  Calchas'  daughter  ? 
Ulyss.  'Tis  he,  I  ken  the  manner  of  his  gait; 

He  rises  on  the  toe :  that  spirit  of  his 

In  aspiration  lifts  him  from  the  earth. 

Enter  Diomedes,  zvith  Cressida, 

Agam.  Is  this  the  Lady  Cressid  ? 

Dio.  Even  she. 

Agam.  Most  dearly  welcome  to  the  Greeks,  sweet  lady. 

Nest.  Our  general  doth  salute  you  with  a  kiss. 

Ulyss.  Yet  is  the  kindness  but  particular ;  20 

'Twere  better  she  were  kiss'd  in  general. 
Nest.  And  very  courtly  counsel :   I  '11  begin. 

So  much  for  Nestor. 
Achil.  I  '11  take  that  winter  from  your  lips,  fair  lady: 

Achilles  bids  you  welcome. 
Men.  I  had  good  argument  for  kissing  once. 
Patr.  But  that 's  no  argument  for  kissing  now ; 

For  thus  popp'd  Paris  in  his  hardiment. 

And  parted  thus  you  and  your  argument. 
Ulyss.  O  deadly  gall,  and  theme  of  all  our  scorns !         30 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

For  which  we  lose  our  heads  to  gild  his  horns. 
Pair.  The  first  was  Menelaus'  kiss  ;  this,  mine : 

Patroclus  kisses  you. 
Men.  O,  this  is  trim ! 

Pair.  Paris  and  I  kiss  evermore  for  him. 
Men.  I  '11  have  my  kiss,  sir.     Lady,  by  your  leave. 
Cres.  In  kissing,  do  you  render  or  receive  ? 
Pair.  Both  take  and  give. 
Cres.  I  '11  make  my  match  to  live, 

The  kiss  you  take  is  better  than  you  give ; 

Therefore  no  kiss. 
Men.  I  '11  give  you  boot,  I  '11  give  you  three  for  one.      40 
Cres.  You  're  an  odd  man  ;  give  even,  or  give  none. 
Men.  An  odd  man,  lady !   every  man  is  odd. 
Cres.  No,  Paris  is  not ;   for,  you  know,  'tis  true. 

That  you  are  odd,  and  he  is  even  with  you. 
Men.  You  fillip  me  o'  the  head. 
Cres.  No,  I  '11  be  sworn. 

Ulyss.  It  were  no  match,  your  nail  against  his  horn. 

May  I,  sweet  lady,  beg  a  kiss  of  you  ? 
Cres.  You  may. 
Ulyss.  I  do  desire  it. 

Cres.  Why,  beg  then. 

Ulyss.  Why  then,  for  Venus'  sake,  give  me  a  kiss, 

When  Helen  is  a  maid  again,  and  his.  50 

Cres.  I  am  your  debtor ;  claim  it  when  'tis  due. 
Ulyss.  Never  's  my  day,  and  then  a  kiss  of  you. 
Dio.  Lady,  a  word :  I  '11  bring  you  to  your  father. 

[Exit  zvith  Cressida. 
Nest.  A  woman  of  quick  sense. 
Ulyss.  Fie,  fie  upon  her ! 

There  's  language  in  her  eye,  her  cheek,  her  lip, 

112 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  v. 

Nay,  her  foot  speaks  ;  her  wanton  spirits  look  out 

At  every  joint  and  motive  of  her  body. 

O,  these  encounterers,  so  gUb  of  tongue, 

That  give  accosting  welcome  ere  it  comes. 

And  wide  unclasp  the  tables  of  their  thoughts  60 

To  every  ticklish  reader !   set  them  down 

For  sluttish  spoils  of  opportunity, 

And  daughters  of  the  game.  [Trumpet  zvithin. 

All.  The  Trojans'  trumpet. 

Agam,  Yonder  comes  the  troop. 

Flourish.     Enter  Hector,  armed;  Mneas,  Troilus, 
and  other  Trojans,  zvith  Attendants. 

^ne.  Hail,  all  the  state  of  Greece !  what  shall  be  done 
To  him  that  victory  commands  ?  or  do  you  purpose 
A  victor  shall  be  known  ?  will  you  the  knights 
Shall  to  the  edge  of  all  extremity 
Pursue  each  other,  or  shall  they  be  divided 
By  any  voice  or  order  of  the  field  ?  70 

Hector  bade  ask. 

Agam,  Which  way  would  Hector  have  it  ? 

^ne.  He  cares  not ;  he  '11  obey  conditions. 

Achil  'Tis  done  like  Hector ;  but  securely  done, 
A  little  proudly,  and  great  deal  misprizing 
The  knight  opposed. 

^ne.  If  not  Achilles,  sir, 

What  is  your  name  ? 

Achil.  If  not  Achilles,  nothing. 

^ne.  Therefore  Achilles :  but,  whate'er,  know  this : 
In  the  extremity  of  great  and  Httle, 
Valour  and  pride  excel  themselves  in  Hector ; 
The  one  almost  as  infinite  as  all,  80 

113 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

The  other  blank  as  nothing.    Weigh  him  well, 
And  that  which  looks  like  pride  is  courtesy. 
This  Ajax  is  half  made  of  Hector's  blood : 
In  love  whereof,  half  Hector  stays  at  home ; 
Half  heart,  half  hand,  half  Hector  comes  to  seek 
This  blended  knight,  half  Trojan  and  half  Greek. 
Achil.  A  maiden  battle  then?    O,  I  perceive  you. 

Re-enter  Diomedes. 

A  gam.  Here  is  Sir  Diomed.    Go,  gentle  knight, 
Stand  by  our  Ajax :   as  you  and  Lord  ^neas 
Consent  upon  the  order  of  their  fight,  90 

So  be  it ;  either  to  the  uttermost, 
Or  else  a  breath  :  the  combatants  being  kin 
Half  stints  their  strife  before  their  strokes  begin. 

{Ajax  and  Hector  enter  the  lists. 

Ulyss.  They  are  opposed  already. 

Agam.  What  Trojan  is  that  same  that  looks  so  heavy? 

Ulyss.  The  youngest  son  of  Priam,  a  true  knight. 
Not  yet  mature,  yet  matchless,  firm  of  word, 
Speaking  in  deeds  and  deedless  in  his  tongue. 
Not  soon  provoked  nor  being  provoked  soon  calm'd ; 
His  heart  and  hand  both  open  and  both  free ;  100 

For  what  he  has  he  gives,  what  thinks  he  shows ; 
Yet  gives  he  not  till  judgement  guide  his  bounty. 
Nor  dignifies  an  impair  thought  with  breath ; 
Manly  as  Hector,  but  more  dangerous ; 
For  Hector  in  his  blaze  of  wrath  subscribes 
To  tender  objects,  but  he  in  heat  of  action 
Is  more  vindicative  than  jealous  love: 
They  call  him  Troilus,  and  on  him  erect 
A  second  hope,  as  fairly  built  as  Hector. 

114 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  v. 

Thus  says  ^neas ;  one  that  knows  the  youth        i  lo 
Even  to  his  inches,  and  with  private  soul 
Did  in  great  IHon  thus  translate  him  to  me. 

[Alarum.     Hector  and  Ajax  £ght. 

Agam.  They  are  in  action. 

A^^^^.  Now,  Ajax,  hold  thine  own ! 

Tro.  Hector,  thou  sleep'st ; 

Awake  thee ! 

Agam.  His  blows  are  well  disposed  :  there,  Ajax  ! 

Dio.  You  must  no  more.  [Trumpets  cease. 

^ne.  Princes,  enough,  so  please  you. 

Ajax.  I  am  not  warm  yet ;   let  us  fight  again. 

Dio.  As  Hector  pleases. 

Hect.  Why,  then  will  I  no  more :  ^ 

Thou  art,  great  lord,  my  father's  sister's  son,         120 
A  cousin-german  to  great  Priam's  seed ; 
The  obligation  of  our  blood  forbids 
A  gory  emulation  'twixt  us  twain : 
Were  thy  commixion  Greek  and  Trojan  so, 
That  thou  couldst  say  '  This  hand  is  Grecian  all. 
And  this  is  Trojan ;  the  sinews  of  this  leg 
All  Greek,  and  this  all  Troy ;  my  mother's  blood 
Runs  on  the  dexter  cheek,  and  this  sinister 
Bounds  in  my  father's  ' ;  by  Jove  multipotent, 
Thou  shouldst  not  bear  from  me  a  Greekish  member 
Wherein  my  sword  had  not  impressure  made         131 
Of  our  rank  feud :  but  the  just  gods  gainsay 
That  any  drop  thou  borrow'dst  from  thy  mother, 
My  sacred  aunt  should  by  my  mortal  sword 
Be  drained !     Let  me  embrace  thee,  Ajax : 
By  him  that  thunders,  thou  hast  lusty  arms ; 
Hector  would  have  them  fall  upon  him  thus : 
115 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Cousin,  all  honour  to  thee  ! 
Ajax.  I  thank  thee,  Hector : 

Thou  art  too  gentle  and  too  free  a  man  : 

I  came  to  kill  thee,  cousin,  and  bear  hence  140 

A  great  addition  earned  in  thy  death. 
Hect.  Not  Neoptolemus  so  mirable, 

On  whose  bright  crest  Fame  with  her  loud'st  Oyes 

Cries  '  This  is  he,'  could  promise  to  himself 

A  thought  of  added  honour  torn  from  Hector. 
M7ie.  There  is  expectance  here  from  both  the  sides, 

What  further  you  will  do. 
Hect.  We  '11  answer  it ; 

The  issue  is  embracement :  Ajax,  farewell. 
Ajax.  If  I  might  in  entreaties  find  success, — 

As  seld  I  have  the  chance — I  would  desire  150 

My  famous  cousin  to  our  Grecian  tents. 
Dio.  'Tis  Agamemnon's  wish ;  and  great  Achilles 

Doth  long  to  see  unarm'd  the  valiant  Hector. 
Hect.  ^neas,  call  my  brother  Troilus  to  me : 

And  signify  this  loving  interview 

To  the  expecters  of  our  Trojan  part ; 

Desire  them  home.     Give  me  thy  hand,  my  cousin ; 

I  will  go  eat  with  thee,  and  see  your  knights. 
Ajax.  Great  Agamemnon  comes  to  meet  us  here. 
Hect.  The  worthiest  of  them  tell  me  name  by  name ;     160 

But  for  Achilles,  my  own  searching  eyes 

Shall  find  him  by  his  large  and  portly  size. 
Agam.  Worthy  of  arms !   as  welcome  as  to  one 

That  would  be  rid  of  such  an  enemy  ; 

But  that 's  no  welcome :  understand  more  clear, 

What's  past  and  what's  to  come  is  strew'd  with  husks 

And  formless  ruin  of  oblivion ; 

n6  — 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  v. 

But  in  this  extant  moment,  faith  and  troth, 
Strain'd  purely  from  all  hollow  bias-drawing. 
Bids  thee,  with  most  divine  integrity,  170 

From  heart  of  very  heart,  great  Hector,  welcome. 

Hect.  I  thank  thee,  most  imperious  Agamemnon. 

Agam.    [To  Troihis]    My  well-famed  lord  of  Troy,  no  less 
to  you. 

Men,  Let  me  confirm  my  princely  brother's  greeting ; 
You  brace  of  warlike  brothers,  welcome  hither. 

Hect.  Who  must  we  answer? 

j^ne.  The  noble  Menelaus. 

Hect.  O,  you,  my  lord !  by  Mars  his  gauntlet,  thanks ! 
Mock  not,  that  I  affect  the  untraded  oath ; 
Your  quondam  wife  swears  still  by  Venus'  glove : 
She  's  well,  but  bade  me  not  commend  her  to  you. 

Aden.  Name  her  not  now,  sir;  she  's  a  deadly  theme.    181 

Hect.  O,  pardon  ;  I  offend. 

Nest.  I  have,  thou  gallant  Trojan,  seen  thee  oft. 
Labouring  for  destiny,  make  cruel  way 
Through  ranks  of  Greekish  youth ;    and  I  have  seen 

thee. 
As  hot  as  Perseus,  spur  thy  Phrygian  steed. 
Despising  many  forfeits  and  subduements. 
When  thou  hast  hung  thy  advanced  sword  i'  the  air, 
Not  letting  it  decline  on  the  declined, 
That  I  have  said  to  some  my  standers  by  190 

*  Lo,  Jupiter  is  yonder,  dealing  life ! ' 
And  I  have  seen  thee  pause  and  take  thy  breath. 
When  that  a  ring  of  Greeks  have  hemm'd  thee  in. 
Like  an  Olympian  wrestling :  this  have  I  seen ; 
But  this  thy  countenance,  still  lock'd  in  steel, 
I  never  saw  till  now.    I  knew  thy  grandsire, 
117 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

And  once  fought  with  him  :  he  was  a  soldier  good ; 

But,  by  great  Mars  the  captain  of  us  all, 

Never  like  thee.    Let  an  old  man  embrace  thee ; 

And,  worthy  warrior,  welcome  to  our  tents.  200 

^ne.  'Tis  the  old  Nestor. 
Hect.  Let  me  embrace  thee,  good  old  chronicle, 

That  hast  so  long  walk'd  hand  in  hand  with  time : 

Most  reverend  Nestor,  I  am  glad  to  clasp  thee. 
Nest.  I  would  my  arms  could  match  thee  in  contention, 

As  they  contend  with  thee  in  courtesy. 
Hect.  I  would  they  could. 

Nest.  Ha! 

By  this  white  beard,  I  'Id  fight  thee  to-morrow : 
Well,  welcome,  welcome ! — I  have  seen  the  time. 

Ulyss.  I  wonder  now  how  yonder  city  stands,  211 

When  we  have  here  her  base  and  pillar  by  us. 

Hect.  I  know  your  favour.  Lord  Ulysses,  well. 

Ah,  sir,  there  's  m^ny  a  Greek  and  Trojan  dead, 
Since  first  I  saw  yourself  and  Diomed 
In  Ilion,  on  your  Greekish  embassy. 

Ulyss.  Sir,  I  foretold  you  then  what  would  ensue : 
My  prophecy  is  but  half  his  journey  yet; 
For  yonder  walls,  that  pertly  front  your  town, 
Yond  towers,  whose  wanton  tops  do  buss  the  clouds. 
Must  kiss  their  own  feet. 

Hect.  I  must  not  believe  you :     221 

There  they  stand  yet ;  and  modestly  I  think, 
The  fall  of  every  Phrygian  stone  will  cost 
A  drop  of  Grecian  blood :  the  end  crowns  all, 
And  that  old  common  arbitrator,  Time, 
Will  one  day  end  it. 

Ulyss.  So  to  him  we  leave  it. 

118 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  IV.  Sc.  v. 

Most  gentle  and  most  valiant  Hector,  welcome : 
After  the  general,  I  beseech  you  next 
To  feast  with  me  and  see  me  at  my  tent. 

Achil.  I  shall  forestall  thee,  Lord  Ulysses,  thou !  230 

Now,  Hector,  I  have  fed  mine  eyes  on  thee ; 
I  have  with  exact  view  perused  thee,  Hector, 
And  quoted  joint  by  joint. 

Hect.  Is  this  Achilles  ? 

Achil.  I  am  Achilles. 

Hect.  Stand  fair,  I  pray  thee :  let  me  look  on  thee. 

Achil  Behold  thy  fill. 

Hect.  Nay,  I  have  done  already. 

Achil.  Thou  art  too  brief :  I  will  the  second  time, 

As  I  would  buy  thee,  view  thee  limb  by  limb. 
Hect.  O,  like  a  book  of  sport  thou  'It  read  me  o'er ; 

But  there  's  more  in  me  than  thou  understand'st. 

Why  dost  thou  so  oppress  me  with  thine  eye  ?        241 
Achil.  Tell  me,  you  heavens,  in  which  part  of  his  body 

Shall  I  destroy  him  ?  whether  there,  or  there,  or  there  ? 

That  I  may  give  the  local  wound  a  name, 

And  make  distinct  the  very  breach  whereout 

Hector's  great  spirit  flew  :  answer  me,  heavens  ! 
Hect.  It  would  discredit  the  blest  gods,  proud  man, 

To  answer  such  a  question :  stand 'again : 

Think'st  thou  to  catch  my  life  so  pleasantly, 

As  to  prenominate  in  nice  conjecture  250 

Where  thou  wilt  hit  me  dead  ? 
Achil.  I  tell  thee,  yea. 

Hect.  Wert  thou  an  oracle  to  tell  me  so, 

I  'Id  not  believe  thee.    Henceforth  guard  thee  well ; 

For  I  '11  not  kill  thee  there,  nor  there,  nor  there ; 

But,  by  the  forge  that  stithied  Mars  his  helm, 

119 


Act  IV.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

I  '11  kill  thee  every  where,  yea,  o'er  and  o'er. 
You  wisest  Grecians,  pardon  me  this  brag ; 
His  insolence  draws  folly  from  my  lips ; 
But  I  '11  endeavour  deeds  to  match  these  words, 
Or  may  I  never — 

Ajax.  ,      Do  not  chafe  thee,  cousin :  260 

And  you,  Achilles,  let  these  threats  alone 
Till  accident  or  purpose  bring  you  to  't : 
You  may  have  every  day  enough  of  Hector, 
If  you  have  stomach :  the  general  state,  I  fear, 
Can  scarce  entreat  you  to  be  odd  with  him. 

Hcct.  I  pray  you,  let  us  see  you  in  the  field : 

We  have  had  pelting  wars  since  you  refused 
The  Grecians'  cause. 

Achil.  Dost  thou  entreat  me.  Hector? 

To-morrow  do  I  meet  thee,  fell  as  death ; 
To-night  all  friends. 

Hect.  Thy  hand  upon  that  match.     270 

A  gam.  First,  all  you  peers  of  Greece,  go  to  my  tent ; 
There  in  the  full  convive  w^e :  afterwards. 
As  Hector's  leisure  and  your  bounties  shall 
Concur  together,  severally  entreat  him. 
Beat  loud  the  tabourines,  let  the  trumpets  blow, 
That  this  great  soldier  may  his  welcome  know. 

[Exeunt  all  hut  Troilus  and  Ulysses* 

Tro.  My  Lord  Ulysses,  tell  me,  I  beseech  you. 
In  wdiat  place  of  the  field  doth  Calchas  keep  ? 

Ulyss.  At  Menelaus'  tent,  most  princely  Troilus : 

There  Diomed  doth  feast  with  him  to-night ;  280 

Who  neither  looks  upon  the  heaven  nor  earth. 
But  gives  all  gaze  and  bent  of  amorous  view 
On  the  fair  Cressid. 

120 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  i. 

Tro.  Shall  I,  sweet  lord,  be  bound  to  you  so  much, 
After  we  part  from  Agamemnon's  tent. 
To  bring  me  thither? 

Ulyss.  You  shall  command  me,  sir. 

As  gentle  tell  me,  of  what  honour  was 
This  Cressida  in  Troy?     Had  she  no  lover  there 
That  wails  her  absence? 

Tro.  O,  sir,  to  such  as  boasting  show  their  scars,        290 
A  mock  is  due.     Will  you  walk  on,  my  lord? 
She  was  beloved,  she  loved ;   she  is,  and  doth : 
But  still  sweet  love  is  food  for  fortune's  tooth. 

[Exeunt. 

ACT   FIFTH. 
Scene  I. 

The  Grecian  camp.    Before  Achilles'  tent. 
Enter  Achilles  and  Patroclus. 

Achil.  I  '11  heat  his  blood  with  Greekish  wine  to-night, 
Which  with  my  scimitar  I  '11  cool  to-morrow. 
Patroclus,  let  us  feast  him  to  the  height. 

Pair.  Here  comes  Thersites. 

Enter  Thersites. 

Achil.  How  now,  thou  core  of  envy! 

Thou  crusty  batch  of  nature,  what 's  the  news? 
Ther.  Why,  thou  picture  of  what  thou  seemest,  and 

idol  of  idiot-worshippers,  here  's  a  letter  for  thee. 
Achil.  From  whence,  fragment? 
Ther.  Why,  thou  full  dish  of  fool,  from  Troy. 
Pair.  Who  keeps  the  tent  now?  10 

121 


Act  V.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

T'her.  The  surgeon's  box,  or  the  patient's  wound. 

Pair.  Well  said,   adversity!    and  what  need  these 
tricks? 

Ther.  Prithee,  be  silent,  boy;    I  profit  not  by  thy 
talk :  thou  art  thought  to  be  Achilles'  male  varlet. 

Pair.  Male  varlet,  you  rogue !   what 's  that  ? 

Ther.  Why,  his  masculine  ivhore.  Now,  the  rotten  20 
diseases  of  the  south,  the  guts-griping,  ruptures, 
catarrhs,  loads  o'  gravel  i'  the  back,  lethargies, 
cold  palsies,  raw  eyes,  dirt-rotten  livers,  wheez- 
ing lungs,  bladders  full  of  imposthume,  sciaticas, 
limekilns  i'  the  palm,  incurable  bone-ache,  and 
the  rivelled  fee-simple  of  the  tetter,  take  and 
take  again  such  preposterous  discoveries ! 

Pair.  Why,  thou  damnable  box  of  envy,  thou,  what 
mean'st  thou  to  curse  thus? 

T'her.  Do  I  curse  thee? 

Pair.  Why,  no,  you  ruinous  butt;    you  whoreson 
indistinguishable  cur,  no. 

Ther.  No!  why  art  thou  then  exasperate,  thou  idle  30 
immaterial  skein  of  sleave  silk,  thou  green 
sarcenet  flap  for  a  sore  eye,  thou  tassel  of  a 
prodigal's  purse,  thou?  Ah,  how  the  poor 
world  is  pestered  with  such  waterflies,  diminu- 
tives of  nature ! 

Pair.  Out,  gall! 

Ther.  Finch-egg! 

Achil.  My  sweet  Patroclus,  I  am  thwarted  quite 
From  my  great  purpose  in  to-morrow's  battle. 
Here  is  a  letter  from  Queen  Hecuba,  40 

A  token  from  her  daughter,  my  fair  love, 
Both  taxing  me  and  gaging  me  to  keep 

122 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  i. 

An  oath  that  I  have  sworn.    I  will  not  break  it : 
Fall  Greeks ;   fail  fame ;   honour  or  go  or  stay ; 
My  major  vow  lies  here,  this  I  '11  obey. 
Come,  come,  Thersites,  help  to  trim  my  tent : 
This  night  in  banqueting  must  all  be  spent. 
Away,  Patroclus  !       [Exeunt  Achilles  and  Patroclus. 
Ther.  With  too  much  blood  and  too  little  brain,  these 

two  may  run  mad;  but,  if  with  too  much  brain  50 
and  too  little  blood  they  do,  I  '11  be  a  curer  of 
madmen.  Here  's  Agamemnon,  an  honest  fellow 
enough  and  one  that  loves  quails ;  but  he  has 
not  so  much  brain  as  ear-wax :  and  the  goodly 
transformation  of  Jupiter  there,  his  brother,  the 
bull,  the  primitive  statue  and  oblique  memorial 
of  cuckolds;  a  thrifty  shoeing-horn  in  a  chain, 
hanging  at  his  brother's  leg, — to  what  form  but 
that  he  is,  should  wit  larded  with  malice  and 
malice  forced  with  wit  turn  him  to  ?  To  an  ass,  60 
were  nothing ;  he  is  both  ass  and  ox :  to  an  ox, 
were  nothing ;  he  is  both  ox  and  ass.  To  be  a 
dog,  a  mule,  a  cat,  a  fitchew,  a  toad,  a  lizard,  an 
owl,  a  puttock,  or  a  herring  without  a  roe,  I- 
would  not  care;  but  to" be  Menelaus !  I  would 
conspire  against  destiny.  Ask  me  not  what  I 
would  be,  if  I  were  not  Thersites ;  for  I  care  not 
to  be  the  louse  of  a  lazar,  so  I  were  not  Menelaus. 
Hoy-day !  spirits  and  fires ! 

Enter  Hector,  Troilus,  Ajax,  Agamemnon,  Ulysses, 
Nestor,  Menelaus,  and  Diomedes,  with  lights. 

Agam,  We  go  wrong,  we  go  wrong. 
Ajax.  No,  yonder  'tis ;     70 

123 


Act  V.  Sc.  i.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

There,  where  we  see  the  hghts. 
Hect.  I  trouble  you. 

Ajax.  No,  not  a  whit. 

Re-enter  Achilles. 

Ulyss.  Here  comes  himself  to  guide  you. 

Achil.  Welcome,  brave  Hector ;  welcome,  princes  all. 
Again.   So  now,  fair  Prince  of  Troy,  I  bid  good  night. 

Ajax  commands  the  guard  to  tend  on  you. 
Hect.  Thanks  and  good  night  to  the  Greeks'  general. 
Men.  Good  night,  my  lord. 

Hect.  Good  night,  sweet  Lord  Menelaus. 

Ther.  Sweet  draught :  sweet,  quoth  a' !  sweet  sink, 

sweet  sewer. 
Achil.  Good  night  and  welcome,  both  at  once,  to  those  80 

That  go  or  tarry. 
Agam.  Good  night.    [Exeunt  Agamemnon  and  Menelaus. 
Achil.  Old  Nestor  tarries ;  and  you  too,  Diomed, 

Keep  Hector  company  an  hour  or  two. 
Dio.  I  cannot,  lord ;  I  have  important  business. 

The  tide  whereof  is  now.    Good  night,  great  Hector. 
Hect.  Give  me  your  hand. 

Ulyss,   [Aside  to  Troiliis]  Follow  his  torch;    he  goes  to 
Calchas'  tent : 

I  '11  keep  you  company. 
Tro.  Sweet  sir,  you  honour  me. 

Hect.  And  so,  good  night. 

[Exit  Diomedes;  Ulysses  and  Troiliis  follozving, 

Achil.  Come,  come,  enter  my  tent.  9*^ 

[Exeunt  Achilles,  Hector,  Ajax,  and  Nestor. 
Ther.  That  same  Diomed  's  a  false-hearted  rogue,  a 
most  unjust  knave;    I  will  no  more  trust  him 

124 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  ii. 

when  he  leers  than  I  will  a  serpent  when  he 
hisses:  he  will  spend  his  mouth  and  promise, 
Hke  Brabbler  the  hound ;  but  when  he  performs, 
astronomers  foretell  it;  it  is  prodigious,  there 
will  come  some  change;  the  sun  borrows  of  the 
moon  when  Diomed  keeps  his  word.  I  will 
rather  leave  to  see  Hector  than  not  to  dog  him : 
they  say  he  keeps  a  Trojan  drab  and  uses  the  loo 
traitor  Calchas'  tent :  I  '11  after.  Nothing  but 
lechery !  all  incontinent  varlets !  [Exit. 


Scene  II. 

The  same.     Before  Calchas'  tent. 

Enter  Diomedes. 

Dio.  What,  are  you  up  here,  ho?  speak. 

Cal  [Within]  Who  calls? 

Dio.  Diomed.    Calchas,  I  think.    Where's  your  daughter? 

Cal.  [Within']   She  comes  to  you. 

Enter  Troilns  and  Ulysses,  at  a  distance;  after  them, 
Thersites. 

Ulyss.  Stand  where  the  torch  may  not  discover  us. 
Enter  Cressida. 

Tro.  Cressid  comes  forth  to  him. 

Dio.  How  now,  my  charge ! 

Cres.  Now,  my  sweet  guardian !   Hark,  a  word  with  you. 

[Whispers. 
Tro.  Yea,  so  familiar! 

125 


Act  V.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Ulyss.  She  will  sing  any  man  at  first  sight. 

Ther.  And  any  man  may  sing  her,  if  he  can  take  her     lo 

cliff ;   she  's  noted. 
Dio.  Will  you  remember? 
Cres.  Remember!  yes. 
Dio.  Nay,  but  do,  then  ; 

And  let  your  mind  be  coupled  with  your  words. 
Tro.  What  should  she  remember  ? 
Ulyss.  List. 

Cres.  Sweet  honey  Greek,  tempt  me  no  more  to  folly. 
Ther.  Roguery! 

Dio.  Nay,  then, —  •  20 

Cres.  I  '11  tell  you  what, — 

Dio.  Fob,  fob!  come, .tell  a  pin:  you  are  forsworn. 
Cres.  In  faith,  I  cannot :  what  would  you  have  me  do  ? 
Ther.  A  juggling  trick, — to  be  secretly  open. 
Dio.  What  did  you  swear  you  would  bestow  on  me? 
Cres.  I  prithee,  do  not  hold  me  to  mine  oath ; 

Bid  me  do  any  thing  but  that,  sweet  Greek. 
Dio.  Good  night. 
Tro.  Hold,  patience! 

Ulyss.  How  now%  Trojan!  30 

Cres.  Diomed, — 

Dio.  No,  no,  good  night :  I  '11  be  your  fool  no  more. 
Tro.  Thy  better  must. 
Cres.  Hark,  one  word  in  your  ear. 
Tro.  O  plague  and  madness ! 
Ulyss.  You  are  moved,  prince ;  let  us  depart,  I  pray  you. 

Lest  your  displeasure  should  enlarge  itself 

To  wrathful  terms :   this  place  is  dangerous ; 

The  time  right  deadly ;  I  beseech  you,  go. 
Tro.  Behold,  I  pray  you ! 

126 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  ii. 

Ulyss.  Nay,  good  my  lord,  go  off :         40 

You  flow  to  great  distraction ;  come,  my  lord. 

Tro.  I  pray  thee,  stay. 

Ulyss.  You  have  not  patience ;   come. 

Tro.  I  pray  you,  stay ;  by  hell  and  all  hell's  torments, 
I  will  not  speak  a  word. 

Dio.  And  so,  good  night. 

Cres.  Nay,  but  you  part  in  anger. 

Tro.  Doth  that  grieve  thee  ? 

0  wither'd  truth ! 

Ulyss.  Why,  how  now,  lord ! 

Tro.  By  Jove, 

1  will  be  patient. 

Cres.  Guardian! — why,  Greek! 

Dio.  Foh,  foh !   adieu ;   you  palter. 

Cres.  In  faith,  I  do  not :  come  hither  once  again.  49 

Ulyss.  You  shake,  my  lord,  at  something :  will  you  go  ? 

You  will  break  out. 
Tro.  She  strokes  his  cheek ! 

Ulyss.  Come,  come. 

Tro.  Nay,  stay ;  by  Jove,  I  will  not  speak  a  word : 

There  is  between  my  will  and  all  offences 

A  guard  of  patience :   stay  a  little  while. 
Ther.  How   the   devil   luxury,    with   his    fat   rump 

and  potato-finger,  tickles  these  together!     Fry, 

lechery,  fry! 
Dio.  But  will  you,  then  ? 

Cres.  In  faith,  I  will,  la ;  never  trust  me  else. 
Dio.  Give  me  some  token  for  the  surety  of  it.  60 

Cres.  I  '11  fetch  you  one.  [Exit. 

Ulyss.  You  have  sworn  patience. 

Tro.  Fear  me  not,  sweet  lord ; 

127 


Act  V.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

I  will  not  be  myself,  nor  have  cognition 
Of  what  I  feel :   I  am  all  patience. 

Re-enter  Cressida. 

Tro.  Now  the  pledge;   now,  now,  now! 

Cres.  Here,  Diomed,  keep  this  sleeve. 

Tro.  O  beauty!   where  is  thy  faith? 

Ulyss.  '  My  lord, — 

Tro.  I  will  be  patient ;  outwardly  I  will. 

Cres.  You  look  upon  that  sleeve ;  behold  it  well. 

He  loved  me — O  false  wench ! — Give't  me  again.     70 

Dio.  Whose  was  't  ? 

Cres.  It  is  no  matter,  now  I  have  't  again. 

I  will  not  meet  with  you  to-morrow  night : 
I  prithee,  Diomed,  visit  me  no  more. 

Ther.  Now  she  sharpens :   well  said,  whetstone ! 

Dio.  I  shall  have  it. 

Cres.  What,  this? 

Dio,  Ay,  that. 

Cres,  O,  all  you  gods !   O  pretty,  pretty  pledge ! 
Thy  master  now  lies  thinking  in  his  bed 
Of  thee  and  me,  and  sighs,  and  takes  my  glove, 
And  gives  memorial  dainty  kisses  to  it,  80 

As  I  kiss  thee.     Nay,  do  not  snatch  it  from  me ; 
He  that  takes  that  doth  take  my  heart  withal. 

Dio.  I  had  your  heart  before ;  this  follows  it. 

Tro.  I  did  swear  patience. 

Cres.  You  shall  not  have  it,  Diomed;    faith,  you  shall 
not; 
I  '11  give  you  something  else. 

Dio.  I  will  have  this :   whose  was  it  ? 

Cres.  It  is  no  matter. 

128 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  ii. 

Dio.  Come,  tell  me  whose  It  was. 

Cres.  'Twas  one's  that  loved  me  better  than  you  will. 

But,  now  you  have  it,  take  it. 
Dio.  Whose  was  it  ?  90 

Cres,  By  all  Diana's  waiting- women  yond, 

And  by  herself,  I  will  not  tell  you  whose. 
Dio.  To-morrow  will  I  wear  it  on  my  helm, 

And  grieve  his  spirit  that  dares  not  challenge  it. 
Tro.  Wert  thou  the  devil,  and  worest  it  on  thy  horn, 

It  should  be  challenged. 
Cres.  Well,  well,  'tis  done,  'tis  past ;   and  yet  it  is  not ; 

I  will  not  keep  my  word. 
Dio.  Why  then,  farewell ; 

Thou  never  shalt  mock  Diomed  again. 
Cres.  You  shall  not  go  :    one  cannot  speak  a  word,       100 

But  it  straight  starts  you. 
Dio.  I  do  not  like  this  fooling. 

Ther.  Nor  I,  by  Pluto :  but  that  that  likes  not  you 

Pleases  me  best. 
Dio.  What,  shall  I  come?  the  hour? 

Cres.  Ay,  come :  O  Jove !  do  come :  I  shall  be  plagued. 
Dio.  Farewell  till  then. 
Cres.  Good  night :   I  prithee,  come. 

[Exit  Diomedes. 

Troilus,  farewell !   one  eye  yet  looks  on  thee. 

But  with  my  heart  the  other  eye  doth  see. 

Ah,  poor  our  sex !  this  fault  in  us  I  find. 

The  error  of  our  eye  directs  our  mind : 

What  error  leads  must  err ;  O,  then  conclude         no 

Minds  sway'd  by  eyes  are  full  of  turpitude.         [Exit. 
Ther.  A  proof  of  strength  she  could  not  publish  more. 

Unless  she  said  '  My  mind  is  now  turn'd  whore.' 
129 


Act  V.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Ulyss.  All 's  done,  my  lord. 

Tro.  It  is. 

Ulyss.  Why  stay  we  then  ? 

Tro.  To  make  a  recordation  to  my  soul 

Of  every  syllable  that  here  was  spoke. 

But  if  I  tell  how  these  two  did  co-act, 

Shall  I  not  lie  in  publishing  a  truth  ? 

Sith  yet  there  is  a  credence  in  my  heart, 

An  esperance  so  obstinately  strong,  120 

That  doth  invert  the  attest  of  eyes  and  ears ; 

As  if  those  organs  had  deceptious  functions, 

Created  only  to  calumniate. 

Was  Cressid  here  ? 
Ulyss.  I  cannot  conjure,  Trojan. 

Tro.  She  was  not,  sure. 
Ulyss.  j\Iost  sure  she  was. 

Tro.  Why,  my  negation  hath  no  taste  of  madness. 
Ulyss.  Nor  mine,  my  lord :   Cressid  was  here  but  now. 
Tro.  Let  it  not  be  believed  for  womanhood ! 

Think,  we  had  mothers ;  do  not  give  advantage 

To  stubborn  critics,  apt  without  a  theme  130 

For  depravation,  to  square  the  general  sex 

By  Cressid's  rule  :  rather  think  this  not  Cressid. 
Ulyss.  What  hath   she   done,  prince,   that  can   soil  our 

mothers  ? 
Tro.  Nothing  at  all,  unless  that  this  were  she. 
Ther.  W^ill  a'  swagger  himself  out  on's  own  eyes  ? 
Tro.  This  she  ?  no,  this  is  Diomed's  Cressida : 

If  beauty  have  a  soul,  this  is  not  she ; 

If  souls  guide  vows,  if  vows  be  sanctimonies, 

If  sanctimony  be  the  gods'  delight. 

If  there  be  rule  in  unity  itself,  140 

130 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  ii. 

This  is  not  she.     O  madness  of  discourse, 
That  cause  sets  up  with  and  against  itself ! 
Bi-fold  authority !  where  reason  can  revolt 
Without  perdition,  and  loss  assume  all  reason 
Without  revolt :   this  is,  and  is  not,  Cressid ! 
Within  my  soul  there  doth  conduce  a  fight 
Of  this  strange  nature,  that  a  thing  inseparate 
Divides  more  wider  than  the  sky  and  earth ; 
And  yet  the  spacious  breadth  of  this  division 
Admits  no  orifex  for  a  point  as  subtle  150 

As  Ariachne's  broken  woof  to  enter. 
Instance,  O  instance !  strong  as  Pluto's  gates ; 
Cressid  is  mine,  tied  with  the  bonds  of  heaven  : 
Instance,  O  instance !   strong  as  heaven  itself ; 
The   bonds    of   heaven    are    slipp'd,    dissolved    and 

loosed ; 
And  with  another  knot,  five-finger-tied, 
The  fractions  of  her  faith,  orts  of  her  love, 
The  fragments,  scraps,  the  bits  and  greasy  relics 
Of  her  o'er-eaten  faith,  are  bound  to  Diomed. 

Ulyss.  May  worthy  Troilus  be  half  attached  160 

With  that  which  here  his  passion  doth  express  ? 

Tro.  Ay,  Greek ;  and  that  shall  be  divulged  well 
In  characters  as  red  as  Mars  his  heart 
Inflamed  with  Venus :  never  did  young  man  fancy 
With  so  eternal  and  so  fix'd  a  soul. 
Hark,  Greek :  as  much  as  I  do  Cressid  love, 
So  much  by  weight  hate  I  her  Diomed : 
That  sleeve  is  mine  that  he  '11  bear  on  his  helm : 
Were  it  a  casque  composed  by  Vulcan's  skill, 
]My  sword  should  bite  it :  not  the  dreadful  spout    170 
Which  shipmen  do  the  hurricane  call, 

131 


Act  V.  Sc.  ii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Constringed  in  mass  by  the  almighty  sun, 

Shall  dizzy  with  more  clamour  Neptune's  ear 

In  his  descent,  than  shall  my  prompted  sword 

Falling  on  Diomed. 
Ther.  He  '11  tickle  it  for  his  concupy. 
Tro.  O  Cressid!  O  false  Cressid!  false,  false,  false! 

Let  all  untruths  stand  by  thy  stained  name, 

And  they  '11  seem  glorious. 
Ulyss.  O,  contain  yourself ; 

Your  passion  draws  ears  hither.  i8o 

Enter  JEneas. 

'^ne.  I  have  been  seeking  you  this  hour,  my  lord : 
Hector  by  this  is  arming  him  in  Troy ; 
Ajax  your  guard  stays  to  conduct  you  home. 

Tro.  Have  with  you,  prince.     My  courteous  lord,  adieu. 
Farewell,  revolted  fair!  and,  Diomed, 
Stand  fast,  and  wear  a  castle  on  thy  head ! 

Ulyss.  I  '11  bring  you  to  the  gates. 

Tro.  Accept  distracted  thanks. 

[Exeunt  Troilus,  Mneas,  and  Ulysses, 

Ther.  Would  I  could  meet  that  rogue  Diomed!  I  190 
would  croak  like  a  raven;  I  would  bode,  I 
would  bode.  Patroclus  will  give  me  any  thing 
for  the  intelligence  of  this  whore:  the  parrot 
will  not  do  more  for  an  almond  than  he  for  a 
commodious  drab.  Lechery,  lechery!  still  wars 
and  lechery!  nothing  else  holds  fashion.  A 
burning  devil  take  them !  [Exit. 


132 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  iii. 

Scene  III. 

Troy.    Before  Priam's  palace. 
Enter  Hector  and  Andromache, 

And.  When  was  my  lord  so  much  ungently  temper'd, 
To  stop  his  ears  against  admonishment? 
Unarm,  unarm,  and  do  not  fight  to-day. 

Hect.  You  train  me  to  offend  you ;  get  you  in : 
By  all  the  everlasting  gods,  I  '11  go ! 

And.  My  dreams  will,  sure,  prove  ominous  to  the  day. 

Hect.  No  more,  I  say. 

Enter  Cassandra. 

Cas.  Where  is  my  brother  Hector  ? 

And.  Here,  sister ;  arm'd,  and  bloody  in  intent. 

Consort  with  me  in  loud  and  dear  petition ; 

Pursue  we  him  on  knees  ;  for  I  have  dream'd  lo 

Of  bloody  turbulence,  and  this  whole  night 

Hath  nothing  been  but  shapes  and  forms  of  slaughter. 
Cas.  O,  'tis  true. 

Hect.  Ho!  bid  my  trumpet  sound! 

Cas.  No  notes  of  sally,  for  the  heavens,  sweet  brother. 
Hect.  Be  gone,  I  say  :  the  gods  have  heard  me  swear. 
Cas.  The  gods  are  deaf  to  hot  and  peevish  vows  : 

They  are  polluted  offerings,  more  abhorr'd 

Than  spotted  livers  in  the  sacrifice. 
And,  O,  be  persuaded !   do  not  count  it  holy 

To  hurt  by  being  just :  it  is  as  lawful,  20 

For  we  would  give  much,  to  use  violent  thefts 

And  rob  in  the  behalf  of  charity. 
Cas.  It  is  the  purpose  that  makes  strong  the  vow ; 

But  vows  to  every  purpose  must  not  hold : 

133 


Act  V.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Unarm,  sweet  Hector. 
Hect.  Hold  you  still,  I  say ; 

Mine  honour  keeps  the  weather  of  my  fate : 
Life  every  man  holds  dear ;  but  the  dear  man 
Holds  honour  far  more  precious-dear  than  life. 

Enter  Troilus. 

How  now,  young  man  !  mean'st  thou  to  fight  to-day  ? 
And.  Cassandra,  call  my  father  to  persuade.  30 

[Exit  Cassandra. 

Hect.  No,  faith,  young  Troilus ;  doff  thy  harness,  youth  : 
I  am  to-day  i'  the  vein  of  chivalry : 
Let  grow  thy  sinews  till  their  knots  be  strong, 
And  tempt  not  yet  the  brushes  of  the  war. 
Unarm  thee,  go ;  and  doubt  thou  not,  brave  boy, 
I  '11  stand  to-day  for  thee  and  me  and  Troy. 

Tro.  Brother,  you  have  a  vice  of  mercy  in  you. 
Which  better  fits  a  lion  than  a  man. 

Hect.  What  vice  is  that,  good  Troilus  ?  chide  me  for  it. 

Tro.  When  many  times  the  captive  Grecian  falls,  40 

Even  in  the  fan  and  wind  of  your  fair  sword. 
You  bid  them  rise  and  live. 

Hect.  O,  'tis  fair  play. 

Tro.  Fool's  play,  by  heaven.  Hector. 

Hect.  How  now !   how  now  ! 

Tro.  For  the  love  of  all  the  gods, 

Let 's  leave  the  hermit  pity  with  our  mother ; 
And  when  we  have  our  armours  buckled  on. 
The  venom'd  vengeance  ride  upon  our  swords, 
Spur  them  to  ruthful  work,  rein  them  from  ruth ! 

Hect.  Fie,  savage,  fie! 

Tro.  Hector,  then  'tis  wars. 

134 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  iii. 

Hect  Troilus,  I  would  not  have  you  fight  to-day.         50 

Tro.  Who  should  withhold  me  ? 

Not  fate,  obedience,  nor  the  hand  of  Mars 

Beckoning  with  fiery  truncheon  my  retire ; 

Not  Priamus  and  Hecuba  on  knees. 

Their  eyes  o'ergalled  with  recourse  of  tears ; 

Nor  you,  my  brother,  with  your  true  sword  drawn. 

Opposed  to  hinder  me,  should  stop  my  way. 

But  by  my  ruin. 

Re-enter  Cassandra^  with  Priam. 

Cas.  Lay  hold  upon  him,  Priam,  hold  him  fast : 

He  is  thy  crutch  ;  now  if  thou  lose  thy  stay,  60 

Thou  on  him  leaning,  and  all  Troy  on  thee. 
Fall  all  together. 

Pri.  Come,  Hector,  come,  go  back : 

Thy  wife  hath  dream'd ;  thy  mother  hath  had  visions ; 
Cassandra  doth  foresee ;   and  I  myself 
Am  like  a  prophet  suddenly  enrapt. 
To  tell  thee  that  this  day  is  ominous : 
Therefore,  come  back. 

Hect.  ^neas  is  afield; 

And  I  do  stand  engaged  to  many  Greeks, 
Even  in  the  faith  of  valour,  to  appear 
This  morning  to  them. 

Pri.  Ay,  but  thou  shalt  not  go.    70 

Hect.  I  must  not  break  my  faith. 

You  know  me  dutiful ;  therefore,  dear  sir, 
Let  me  not  shame  respect ;  but  give  me  leave 
To  take  that  course  by  your  consent  and  voice, 
Which  you  do  here  forbid  me,  royal  Priam. 

Cas.  O  Priam,  yield  not  to  him ! 

I3S 


Act  V.  Sc.  iii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

And.  Do  not,  dear  father 

Hecf.  Andromache,  I  am  offended  with  you : 

Upon  the  love  you  bear  me,  get  you  in. 

[Exit  Andromache. 
Tro.  This  foohsh,  dreaming,  superstitious  girl 

Makes  all  these  bodements. 
Cas.  O,  farewell,  dear  Hector!     80 

Look,  how  thou  diest !   look,  how  thy  eye  turns  pale ! 

Look,  how  thy  wounds  do  bleed  at  many  vents ! 

Hark,  how  Troy  roars !  how  Hecuba  cries  out ! 

How  poor  Andromache  shrills  her  dolours  forth! 

Behold,  distraction,  frenzy  and  amazement, 

Like  witless  antics,  one  another  meet. 

And  all  cry  '  Hector !   Hector  's  dead !   O  Hector ! ' 
Tro.  Away!  away! 
Cas.  Farewell :  yet,  soft !   Hector,  I  take  my  leave : 

Thou  dost  thyself  and  all  our  Troy  deceive.     [Exit. 
Hect.  You  are  amazed,  my  liege,  at  her  exclaim :  91 

Go  in  and  cheer  the  town  :  we  '11  forth  and  fight, 

Do  deeds  worth  praise  and  tell  you  them  at  night. 
Pri.  Farewell :  the  gods  with  safety  stand  about  thee ! 

[Exeunt  severally  Priam  and  Hector,     Alarum. 
Tro.  They  are  at  it,  hark !  Proud  DIomed,  believe, 

I  come  to  lose  my  arm,  or  win  my  sleeve. 

Enter  Pandarus. 

Pan.  Do  you  hear,  my  lord?   do  you  hear? 
Tro.  What  now  ? 

Pan.  Here  's  a  letter  come  from  yond  poor  girl. 
Tro.  Let  me  read.  100 

Pan.  A  whoreson  tisick,  a  whoreson  rascally  tisick 
so  troubles  me,  and  the  foolish  fortune  of  this 

136 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  iv. 

girl ;   and  what  one  thing,  what  another,  that  I 
shall  leave  you  one  o'  these  days :   and  I  have  a 
rheum  in  mine  eyes  too,  and  such  an  ache  in  my 
bones  that,  unless  a  man  were  cursed,  I  cannot 
tell  what  to  think  on  't.    What  says  she  there  ? 
Tro.  Words,   words,   mere   words,   no   matter   from  the 
heart ; 
The  effect  doth  operate  another  way. 

[Tearing  the  letter. 
Go,  wind,  to  wind,  there  turn  and  change  together. 
My  love  with  words  and  errors  still  she  feeds,     in 
But  edifies  another  with  her  deeds. 

[Exeunt  severally. 

Scene   IV. 

The  Held  between  Troy  and  the  Grecian  camp. 

Alarums.    Excursions.    Enter  Thersitcs. 

Ther.  Now  they  are  clapper-clawing  one  another; 
I  '11  go  look  on.  That  dissembling  abominable 
varlet,  Diomed,  has  got  that  same  scurvy  doting 
foolish  young  knave's  sleeve  of  Troy  there  in 
his  helm :  I  would  fain  see  them  meet ;  that 
that  same  young  Trojan  ass,  that  loves  the 
whore  there,  might  send  that  Greekish  whore- 
masterly  villain,  with  the  sleeve,  back  to  the  dis- 
sembling luxurious  drab,  of  a  sleeveless  errand. 
O'  the  t'other  side,  the  policy  of  those  crafty  lO 
swearing  rascals,  that  stale  old  mouse-eaten  dry 
cheese,  Nestor,  and  that  same  dog-fox,  Ulysses, 
is  not  proved  worth  a  blackberry.  They  set  me 
up  in  policy  that  mongrel  cur,  Ajax,  against  that 
dog  of  as  bad  a  kind,  Achilles :  and  now  is  the 

137 


Act  V.  Sc.  iv.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

cur  Ajax  prouder  than  the  cur  Achilles,  and  will 
not  arm  to-day;  whereupon  the  Grecians  begin 
to  proclaim  barbarism,  and  policy  grows  into  an 
ill  opinion. 

Enter  Diomedes  and  Troilus. 

Soft !   here  comes  sleeve,  and  t'  other.  20 

Tro.  Fly  not,  for  shculdst  thou  take  the  river  Styx, 

I  would  swim  after. 
Dio.  Thou  dost  miscall  retire : 

I  do  not  fly ;  but  advantageous  care 

Withdrew  me  from  the  odds  of  multitude: 

Have  at  thee ! 
Tlicr.  Hold    thy  •  whore,     Grecian !     Now    for    thy 

whore,    Trojan!      Now    the    sleeve,    now    the 

sleeve!  [Exeunt  Troilus  and  Diomedes^  fighting. 

Enter  Hector. 

Hect.  What  art  thou,  Greek?   art  thou  for  Hector's 
match  ? 
Art  thou  of  blood  and  honour  ?  30 

Ther.  No,  no :  I  am  a  rascal ;  a  scurvy  railing  knave ; 
a  very  filthy  rogue. 

Heet.  I  do  believe  thee.    Live.  [Exit. 

Ther.  God-a-mercy,  that  thou  wilt  believe  me;  but 
a  plague  break  thy  neck  for  frighting  me! 
W^hat  's  become  of  the  wenching  rogues  ?  I 
think  they  have  swallowed  one  another :  I  would 
laugh  at  that  miracle :  yet  in  a  sort  lechery  eats 
itself.    I '11  seek  them.  [Exit. 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  v. 

Scene  V. 

Another  part  of  the  field. 
Enter  Diornedes  and  Servant. 

Dio.  Go,  go,  my  servant,  take  thou  Troilus'  horse ; 

Present  the  fair  steed  to  my  lady  Cressid : 

Fellow,  commend  my  service  to  her  beauty ; 

Tell  her  I  have  chastised  the  amorous  Trojan, 

And  am  her  knight  by  oroof. 
Ser.  I  go,  my  lord.         [Exit. 

Enter  Agamemnon. 

Agam.  Renew,  renew  !    The  lierce  Polydamas 
Hath  beat  down  Menon  :  bastard  Margarelon 
Hath  Doreus  prisoner, 

And  stands  colossus-wise,  waving  his  beam. 
Upon  the  pashed  corses  of  the  kings  10 

Epistrophus  and  Cedius :   Polyxenes  is  slain ; 
Amphimachus  and^  Thoas  deadly  hurt ; 
Patroclus  ta'en  or  slain  ;  and  Palamedes 
Sore  hurt  and  bruised :  the  dreadful  sagittary 
Appals  our  num.bers :  haste  we,  Diomed, 
To  reinforcement,  or  we  perish  all. 

Enter  Nestor. 

Nest.  Go,  bear  Patroclus'  body  to  Achilles, 

And  bid  the  snail-paced  Ajax  arm  for  shame. 
There  is  a  thousand  Hectors  in  the  field : 
Now  here  he  fights  on  Galathe  his  horse,  20 

And  there  lacks  work ;  anon  he  's  there  afoot, 
And  there  they  fly  or  die,  like  scaled  sculls 
Before  the  belching  whale ;  then  is  he  yonder, 

139 


Act  V.  Sc.  V.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

And  there  the  strawy  Greeks,  ripe  for  his  edge, 
Fall  down  before  him,  like  the  mower's  swath : 
Here,  there  and  every  where  he  leaves  and  takes, 
Dexterity  so  obeying  appetite 
That  what  he  will  he  does,  and  does  so  much 
That  proof  is  call'd  impossibility. 

Enter  Ulysses. 

Ulyss.  O,  courage,  courage,  princes  !  great  Achilles       30 
Is  arming,  weeping,  cursing,  vowing  vengeance : 
Patroclus'  wounds  have  roused  his  drowsy  blood. 
Together  with  his  mangled  Myrmidons, 
That  noseless,  handless,hack'd  and  chipp'd,  come  to  him, 
Crying  on  Hector.     Ajax  hath  lost  a  friend, 
And  foams  at  mouth,  and  he  is  arm'd,  and  at  it, 
Roaring  for  Troilus ;  who  hath  done  to-day 
Mad  and  fantastic  execution, 
Engaging  and  redeeming  of  himself, 
With  such  a  careless  force  and  forceless  care,         40 
As  if  that  luck,  in  very  spite  of  cunning, 
Bade  him  win  all. 

Eiiter  Ajax. 

Ajax.  Troilus  !   thou  coward  Troilus  !  [Exit. 

Dio.  Ay,  there,  there. 

Nest.  So,  so,  we  draw  together. 

Enter  Achilles. 

Achil.  Where  is  this  Hector  ? 

Come,  come,  thou  boy-queller,  show  thy  face; 
Know  what  it  is  to  meet  Achilles  angry : 
Hector !  where  's  Hector  ?  I  will  none  but  Hector. 

[Exeunt. 

140 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  vi. 

Scene  VI. 

Another  part  of  the  Held. 
Enter  Ajax. 
Ajax.  Troilus,  thou  coward  Troilus,  show  thy  head ! 

Enter  Diomedes. 

Dio.  Troilus,  I  say !   where  's  Troilus  ? 
Ajax.  What  would'st  thou? 

Dto.  I  would  correct  him. 

Ajax.  Were  I  the  general,  thou  shouldst  have  my  office 
Ere  that  correction.     Troilus,  I  say !  what,  Troilus ! 

Enter  Troilus. 

Tro.  O  traitor  Diomed !  Turn  thy  false  face,  thou  traitor, 

And  pay  thy  life  thou  owest  me  for  my  horse. 
Dio.  Ha,  art  thou  there? 

Ajax.  I  '11  fight  with  him  alone :   stand,  Diomed. 
Dio,  He  is  my  prize ;   I  will  not  look  upon.  lo 

Tro.  Come  both,  you  cogging  Greeks ;  have  at  you  both ! 

[Exeunt,  -fighting. 

Enter  Hector. 
Hect.  Yea,  Troilus  ?  O,  well  fought,  my  youngest  brother ! 

Enter  Achilles. 

Achil.  Now  do  I  see  thee;  ha!  have  at  thee,  Hector! 

Hect.  Pause,  if  thou  wilt. 

Achil.  I  do  disdain  thy  courtesy,  proud  Trojan : 
Be  happy  that  my  arms  are  out  of  use : 
My  rest  and  negligence  befriends  thee  now, 
But  thou  anon  shalt  hear  of  me  again ; 

141 


Act  V.  Sc.  vii.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Till  when,  go  seek  thy  fortune.  [Exit. 

Hect.  Fare  thee  well : 

I  would  have  been  much  more  a  fresher  man,         20 
Had  I  expected  thee. 

Re-enter  Troilns. 

How  now,  my  brother ! 
Tro.  Ajax  hath  ta'en  ^neas  :  shall  it  be? 

No,  by  the  flame  of  yonder  glorious  heaven, 

He  shall  not  carry  him ;  I  '11  be  ta'en  too, 

Or  bring  him  off.     Fate,  hear  me  what  I  say ! 

I  reck  not  though  I  end  my  life  to-day.  [Exit. 

Enter  one  in  sumptuous  armour. 

Hect.  Stand,  stand,  thou  Greek ;  thou  art  a  goodly  mark. 
No?  wilt  thou  not?    I  like  thy  armour  well ; 
I  '11  frush  it,  and  unlock  the  rivets  all. 
But  I  '11  be  master  of  it.    Wilt  thou  not,  beast,  abide  ? 
Why  then,  fly  on,  I  '11  hunt  thee  for  thy  hide.         31 

[Exeunt.. 

Scene  VII. 

Another  part  of  the  Held. 

Enter  Achilles,  zvith  Myrmidons. 

Achil.  Come  here  about  me,  you  my  Myrmidons ; 
Mark  what  I  say.    Attend  me  where  I  wheel : 
Strike  not  a  stroke,  but  keep  yourselves  in  breath : 
And  when  I  have  the  bloody  Hector  found. 
Empale  him  with  your  weapons  round  about ; 
In  fellest  manner  execute  your  aims. 
Follow  me,  sirs,  and  my  proceedings  eye : 
It  is  decreed  Hector  the  great  must  die.         [Exeunt, 

142 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  viii. 

Enter  Menelaus  and  Paris,  fighting:   then  Thersites. 

Ther.  The  cuckold  and  the  cuckold-maker  are  at  it. 

Now,  bull!    now,  dog!    'loo,  Paris,  'loo!    now     lo 
my  double-henned   sparrow !    'loo,   Paris,   'loo ! 
The  bull  has  the  game :   ware  horns,  ho ! 

[Exeunt  Paris  and  Menelaus. 

Enter  Margarelon. 

Mar.  Turn,  slave,  and  fight. 

Ther.  What  art  thou? 

Mar.  A  bastard  son  of  Priam's. 

Ther.  I  am  a  bastard  too ;  I  love  bastards :  I  am  a 
bastard  begot,  bastard  instructed,  bastard  in 
mind,  bastard  in  valour,  in  every  thing  illegiti- 
mate. One  bear  will  not  bite  another,  and 
wherefore  should  one  bastard?  Take  heed,  20 
the  quarrel 's  most  ominous  to  us :  if  the  son 
of  a  whore  fight  for  a  whore,  he  tempts  judge- 
ment: farewell,  bastard.  [Exit. 

Mar.  The  devil  take  thee,  coward !  [Exit. 


Scene  VIII. 

Another  part  of  the  Held. 

Enter  Hector. 

Hect.  Most  putrefied  core,  so  fair  without, 
Thy  goodly  armour  thus  hath  cost  thy  life. 
Now  is  my  day's  work  done ;  I  '11  take  good  breath : 
Rest,  sword ;  thou  hast  thy  fill  of  blood  and  death. 
[Puts  off  his  helmet  and  hangs  his  shield  behind  him. 

143 


Act  V.  Sc.  ix.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Enter  Achilles  and  Myrmidons, 

AchiL  Look,  Hector,  how  the  sun  begins  to  set  ; 

How  ugly  night  comes  breathing  at  his  heels : 

Even  with  the  vail  and  darking  of  the  sun, 

To  close  the  day  up,  Hector's  life  is  done. 
Hect.  I  am  unarm'd ;   forego  this  vantage,  Greek. 
AchiL  Strike,  fellows,  strike;  this  is  the  man  I  seek.       lo 

[Hector  falls. 

So,  Ilion,  fall  thou  next !  now,  Troy,  sink  down ! 

Here  lies  thy  heart,  thy  sinews,  and  thy  bone. 

On,  Myrmidons ;   and  cry  you  all  amain, 

'  Achilles  hath  the  mighty  Hector  slain.' 

[A  retreat  sounded. 

Hark !  a  retire  upon  our  Grecian  part. 
Myr.  The  Trojan  trumpets  sound  the  like,  my  lord. 
AchiL  The  dragon  wing  of  night  o'erspreads  the  earth, 

And  stickler-like  the  armies  separates. 

My  half-supp'd  sword  that  frankly  would  have  fed. 

Pleased  with  this  dainty  bait,  thus  goes  to  bed.       20 

[Sheathes  his  sword. 

Come,  tie  his  body  to  my  horse's  tail ; 

Along  the  field  I  will  the  Trojan  trail. 

[Exeunt.    A  retreat  sounded. 

Scene  IX. 

Another  part  of  the  Held. 

Enter  Agamemnon,  Ajax,  Menelaus,  Nestor,  Diomedes, 
and  the  rest,  marching.    Shouts  zvithin. 

Agam.  Hark !   hark !   what  shout  is  that  ? 
A^^^^.  Peace,  drums ! 

144 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  x. 

[Within]  '  Achilles  \  Achilles!  Hector's  slain!  Achilles!' 
Dio.  The  bruit  is,  Hector  's  slain,  and  by  Achilles. 
Ajax.  If  it  be  so,  yet  bragless  let  it  be; 

Great  Hector  was  a  man  as  good  as  he. 
Agam.  March  patiently  along :   let  one  be  sent 

To  pray  Achilles  see  us  at  our  tent. 

If  in  his  death  the  gods  have  us  befriended,  9 

Great  Troy  is  ours,  and  our  sharp  wars  are  ended. 

[Exeunt,  marching. 

Scene  X. 

Another  part  of  the  Held. 

Enter  ^neas,  Paris,  Antenor,  and  Deiphohus. 

^ne.  Stand,  ho !   yet  are  we  masters  of  the  field  : 
Never  go  home ;  here  starve  we  out  the  night. 

Enter  Troilus. 

Tro.  Hector  is  slain. 

All  Hector!    The  gods  forbid ! 

Tro>  He  's  dead ;  and  at  the  murderer's  horse's  tail 
In  beastly  sort  dragg'd  through  the  shameful  field. 
Frown  on,  you  heavens,  effect  your  rage  with  speed ! 
Sit,  gods,  upon  your  thrones,  and  smile  at  Troy ! 
I  say,  at  once  let  your  brief  plagues  be  mercy. 
And  linger  not  our  sure  destructions  on ! 

.^ne.  My  lord,  you  do  discomfort  all  the  host.  10 

Tro.  You  understand  me  not  that  tell  me  so : 
I  do  not  speak  of  flight,  of  fear,  of  death. 
But  dare  all  imminence  that  gods  and  men 
Address  their  dangers  in.    Hector  is  gone : 
Who  shall  tell  Priam  so,  or  Hecuba  ? 

145 


Act  V.  Sc.  X.  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Let  him  that  will  a  screech-owl  aye  be  call'd, 

Go  in  to  Troy,  and  say  there  '  Hector  's  dead  ' : 

There  is  a  word  will  Priam  turn  to  stone, 

Make  wells  and  Niobes  of  the  maids  and  wives, 

Cold  statues  of  the  youth,  and,  in  a  word,  20 

Scare  Troy'out  of  itself.     But  march  aw^ay: 

Hector  is  dead  ;  there  is  no  more  to  say. 

Stay  yet.     You  vile  abominable  tents, 

Thus  proudly  pight  upon  our  Phrygian  plains. 

Let  Titan  rise  as  early  as  he  dare, 

I  '11  through  and  through  you !  and,  thou  great-sized" 

coward, 
No  space  of  earth  shall  sunder  our  two  hates  : 
I  '11  haunt  thee  like  a  wicked  conscience  still, 
That  mouldeth  goblins  swift  as  frenzy's  thoughts. 
Strike  a  free  march  to  Troy !  with  comfort  go :       30 
Hope  of  revenge  shall  hide  our  inward  woe. 

[Exeunt  ^neas  and  Trojans. 

As  Troilus  is  going  out,  enter,  from  the  other  side, 
Pandarus. 

Pan.  But  hear  you,  hear  you ! 

Tro.  Hence,  broker-lackey !   ignomy  and  shame 
Pursue  thy  life,  and  live  aye  with  thy  name ! 

[Exit. 

Pan.  A  goodly  medicine  for  my  aching  bones  ! 

O  world  !  world  !  world !  thus  is  the  poor  agent 
despised !  O  traitors  and  bawds,  how  earnestly 
are  you  set  a-work,  and  how  ill  requited !  why 
should  our  endeavour  be  so  loved  and  the  per- 
formance so  loathed?  what  verse  for  it?  what  40 
instance  for  it  ?  Let  me  see : 
146 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Act  V.  Sc.  x. 

Full  merrily  the  humble-bee  doth  sing-, 
Till  he  hath  lost  his  honey  and  his  sting; 
And  being  once  subdued  in  armed  tail, 
Sweet  honey  and  sweet  notes  together  fail. 

Good  traders  in  the  flesh,  set  this  in  your 
painted  cloths : 

As  many  as  be  here  of  Pandar's  hall, 

Your  eyes,  half  out,  weep  out  at  Pandar's  fall ; 

Or  if  you  cannot  weep,  yet  give  some  groans,        50 

Though  not  for  me,  yet  for  your  aching  bones 

Brethren  and  sisters  of  the  hold-door  trade, 

Some  two  months  hence  my  will  shall  here  be  made  : 

It  should  be  now,  but  that  my  fear  is  this, 

Some  galled  goose  of  Winchester  would  hiss : 

Till  then  I  '11  sweat  and  seek  about  for  eases. 

And  at  that  time  bequeath  you  my  diseases.       [Exit. 


147 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary. 


A',  he;  I.  ii.  211. 

Abject  in  regard,  held  in  little 
estimation  (Quarto,  "oh- 
iect");  III.  iii.  128. 

Abruption,  breaking  off;  III.  ii. 
67. 

Adamant,  the  loadstone;  III.  ii. 
183. 

Addition,  title;  II.  iii.  248. 

Additions,  virtues,  characteris- 
tic qualities;  I.  ii.  20. 

Addle,  used  with  play  on 
"  idle  "  ;  I.  ii.  138. 

Address,  prepare ;  IV.  iv.  146. 

Advertised,  informed;  II.  ii. 
211. 

Afeard,  afraid;  IV.  iv.  82. 

Affection,  passion,  lust;  II.  ii. 
177- 

AfUned,  related,  joined  by  af- 
finity; I.  iii.  25. 

Affronted,  e  ncountered, 
matched;  III.  ii.  170. 

Against,  just  before,  in  expecta- 
tion of;  I.  ii.  182. 

Albeit,  although ;  III.  ii.  138. 

Allow,  acknowledge;  III.  ii.  93. 

Allowance,  acknowledgment;  I. 
iii.  377- 

An,  if,  as  if ;  "  an  'twere,"  like, 
just  as  (Quartos,  Folios, 
"and")  ;  I.  i.  79. 

Anchises,  the  father  of  ^neas ; 
IV.  i.  21. 


Antics,  buffoons;  V.  iii.  86. 

Appear  it,  let  it  appear ;  III. 
iii.  3. 

Appertainments,  dignity  apper- 
taining to  us  (Quarto,  "  ap~ 
pertainings")  ;  II.  iii.  87. 

Apply,  explain,  interpret ;  I.  iii. 

Appointment,  equipment;  IV. 
V.  I. 

Apprehensions,  conception,  per- 
ception; II.  iii.  118. 

Approve,  prove ;  III.  ii.  178. 

Aquilon,  the  north  wind;  IV. 
V.  9. 

Argument,  subject  of  a  play; 
Prol.  25. 

Argus,  the  fabulous  monster 
with  a  hundred  eyes;  I.  ii.  31. 

Ariachne's,  Arachne's;  i.e.  the 
spider's  (Folios,  "Ariach- 
nes  " ;  Quarto,  "  Ariachnas  "  ; 
Pope,  "slight  Arachne's" ; 
Capell,  "is  Arachnes" ;  Stee- 
vens  conj.  "Ariadne's  or 
Arachnea's")  ;  V.  ii.  152, 

Artist,  scholar ;  I.  iii.  24. 

As,  equal  to,  as  good  as.  III.  ii. 
53;  as  if.  III.  iii.  167. 

Aspects,  influence ;  I.  iii.  92. 

Assinego,  ass  (Quarto,  Folios, 
"  Asinico  "  ;  Singer  conj. 
"  asnico  ")  ;  II.  i.  48. 

Assub Jugate,  bring  into  subjec- 
tion, debase;  II.  iii.  194. 


148 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Attach' d,  '*  be  a.  with,"  have  a 
feeling  of;  V.  ii.  i6i. 

Attaint,  taint,  stain;  I.  ii.  26. 

Attest,  testimony;  V.  ii.  122. 

,    call    to    witness ;    II.    ii. 

132. 

Attribute,  reputation;  II.  iii. 
119. 

Attributive,  ascribing  excellent 
qualities  (Folios,  "  incline- 
able");  II.  ii.  58. 

Barks,  ships ;  Prol.  12. 

Battle,  army;  III.  ii.  27, 

Beam,  heavy  lance ;  V.  v.  9. 

Beastly,  like  a  beast ;  V.  x.  5. 

Beaver,  here  helmet ;  properly, 
the  front  of  the  helmet ;  I.  iii. 
296. 

Beef-witted,  with  no  more  wit 
than  an  ox  (Grey  conj. 
"half-witted")  ;  II.  i.  14. 

Benumbed,  deprived  of  sensa- 
tion, insensible ;  II.  ii,  179. 

Bestowing,  functions;  III.  ii. 
2>7- 

Better,  used  quibblingly — a  bet- 
ter man;  III.  i.  12. 

;  "were  b.,"  had  better;  I. 

iii.  370. 

Bias,  originally  a  term  in  the 
game  of  bowls ;  here,  out  of 
a  straight  line,  awry;  I.  iii.  15. 

Bias  cheek,  "  as  the  bowl  on 
the  biassed  side  " ;  IV.  v.  8. 

Bias-drawing,  turning  awry ; 
IV.  V.  169. 

Bi-fold,  two-fold,  double  (Col- 
lier MS.,  "by  foole")  ;  V.  ii. 
144. 

Black-a-moor,  negress;  I.  i.  80. 


Blank  of  danger,  unknown  dan- 
ger ;  blank  ^  a  charter,  to 
which  one  sets  his  seal  or  sig- 
nature before  it  is  filled  up ; 
III.  iii.  231. 

Blench,  start,  flinch ;  I.  i.  28. 

Blench  from,  fly  off  from,  be 
inconstant  to ;  II.  ii.  68. 

Bless,  preserve;  II.  iii.  32. 

Blood,  passions,  natural  pro- 
pensities ;  II.  iii.  33. 

Blown  up,  grown  up  (Capell 
conj.  "grown  tip");  I.  iii. 
317. 

Bob,  cheat,  trick;  III.  i.  69. 


'  B/ow,  vi//ain,  till  thy  bias  cheeky  etc. 

From  a  Pompeian  wall-painting.  (The 
cheeks  are  braced  as  a  precaution 
against  dangerous  distention.) 

Bobbed,  thumped  ;  II.  i.  72. 
Bode,  forbode,  be  ominous ;  V. 

ii.  191. 
Bodements,  presages ;  V.  iii.  80. 
Bolting,  sifting;  I.  i.  18. 


149 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Boot,  something  into  the  bar- 
gain, advantage ;  IV.  v.  40. 

;  "to  b.,"  into  the  bargain; 

I.  ii.  250. 

Boreas,  the  north  wind ;  I.  iii. 
38. 

Bought  and  sold,  made  a  fool 
of;  II.  i.  50. 

Boy-queller,  boy-killer ;  V.  v. 
45. 

Brave,  fine,  splendid ;  Prol.  15. 

,  defying,  bravado ;  IV.  iv. 

137. 

Bravely,  admirably ;   I.  ii.    189. 

Bnaivn,  arm  (Quarto, 
''  hraunes")  ;  I.  iii.  297. 

Breath,  breathing,  exercise ;  II. 
iii.  115. 

Breese,  gadfly  (Quarto, 
"  Bryze  "  ;  Folio  i,  "  Brieze  "  ; 
Folios  2,  3,  4,  "  Brize")  ;  I. 
iii.  48. 

Briareus,  the  fabulous  giant 
who  was  supposed  to  have  a 
hundred  hands  ;  I.  ii.  30. 

Bring;  "be  with  you  to  b.,"  an 
idiomatic  expression  =  "  to 
bring  as  good  as  I  get  "  (give 
six  for  your  half-dozen)  ;  I. 
ii.  291,  2. 

,  take ;  IV.  v.  53. 

,  conduct ;  IV.  v.  286. 

Broad,  wide  (so  Quarto;  Fo- 
lios read.  "  I  0  w  d"  and 
"loud")  ;  I.  iii.  27. 

,  puffed  with  pride ;   I.  iii. 

190. 

Broils ;  "  b.  in  loud  applause," 
"  basks  in  the  sunshine  of  ap- 
plause, even  to  broiling " 
(Schmidt)  ;  I.  iii.  379. 


Broken,  interrupted ;  IV.  iv.  48. 

Broken  music ;  "  some  instru- 
ments, such  as  viols,  violins, 
flutes,  etc.,  were  formerly 
made  in  sets  of  four,  which 
when  played  together  formed 
a  "  consort."  If  one  or  more 
instruments  of  one  set  were 
substituted  for  the  corre- 
sponding ones  of  another  set, 
the  result  was  no  longer  a 
"  consort,"  but  "  broken  mu- 
sic "  (Chapell)  ;  III.  i.  50. 

Brooch,  V.  Notes  ;  II.  i.  119. 

Brotherhoods,  associations,  cor- 
porations ;  I.  iii.  104. 

Bruit,  rumour ;  V.  ix.  4. 

Brushes,  hurts;  V.  iii.  34. 

Buss,  kiss  ;  IV.  v.  220. 

By  God's  lid  =  hy  God's  eye, 
an  oath  ;  I.  ii.  218. 

Caduceus,  Mercury's  rod;  II. 
iii.  13. 

Can  =  can  do ;  II.  ii.  135. 

Cancer,  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the 
summer  solstice;  II.  iii.  198. 

Capable;  "more  c,"  abler;  III. 
iii.  307. 

Capocchia;  "a  fabricated  femi- 
nine form  of  the  Italian  word 
'  capocchio'  which  means  a 
dolt,  a  simpleton,  a  fool " 
(Clarke)  ;  (Folios,  Quarto, 
"  chipochia" ;  Collier,  "ca- 
pocchio") ;  IV.  ii.  31. 

Captive,  conquered;  V.  iii.  40. 

Carry,  carry  off,  bear  off ;  V. 
vi.  24. 

Catlings,  strings  of  catgut ;  III 
iii.  304. 


150 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Centre,  earth;  I.  iii.  85. 

Chafe  thee,  become  angry;  IV. 

V.  260. 
Chance,  chances  it;  III.  i.  137. 
Changeful,  inconstant ;   IV.  iv. 

97- 

Change  of,  exchange  for;  III. 
iii.  27. 

Chapmen,  buyers  ;  IV.  i.  75. 

Characterless,  unrecorded;  III. 
ii.  192. 

Characters,,  figures ;   I.   iii.  325. 

Charge,  expense ;  IV.  i.  57. 

;   "on  c,"  on  compulsion, 

by  your  order ;  IV.  iv.  133. 

Charon,  the  ferryman  who 
rowed  the  souls  of  the  de- 
parted over  the  river  Styx ; 
III.  ii.  10. 

Circumstance,  details  of  argu- 
ment; III.  iii.  114. 

Clamours,  noises,  sounds;  I.  i. 
92. 

Cliff,  clef  or  key ;  a  musical 
term;  V.  ii.  11. 

Clotpoles,  blockheads  ;  II.  i.  122. 

Cloud ;  "  a  c.  in  autumn,"  a 
cloud  heralding  bad  weather  ; 
I.  ii.  131. 

Co-act,  act,  play  together ;  V.  ii. 
118. 

Cohloaf,  a  crusty,  uneven  loaf 
with  a  round  top  to  it  (Ma- 
lone  conj.  "  Coploaf")   II.  i. 

Cogging,    cheating,     deceiving ; 

V.  vi.  II. 
Cognition,  perception  ;  V.  ii.  63. 
Colossus-wise,  like  a  Colossus ; 

V.  V.  9. 
Compare,   comparison ;    III.    ii. 

179. 


Compassed,  round ;  "  c.  win- 
dow," bay-window  (Quarto, 
Folios,  "  compast")  ;   I.  ii.  114. 

Composure,  bond  (Folios, 
"  counsell  that")  ;  II.  iii.  102. 

Con,  learn  by  heart  (Quarto, 
"  cunne")  ;  II.  i.   18. 

Condition,  on  condition,  even 
though ;  I.  ii.  75. 

Conduce,  is  joined,  brought 
together  (  R  o  w  e,  "  com- 
mence ")  \  V.  ii.  147. 

Conjure ;  "  I  cannot  c."  I  can- 
not raise  up  spirits ;  V.  ii,  125. 

Constringed,  contracted, 
cramped;  V.  ii.  173. 

Convince,  convict,  prove  guilty; 

II.  ii.  130. 

Convive  zve,  we  will  feast ;  IV. 
V.  272. 

Convoy,  conveyance ;   I.  i.   107. 

Coped,  encountered;  I.  ii.  34. 

Core,  ulcer ;  II.  i.  7. 

Cormorant,  ravenous  (Folio  i, 
"cormorant")  ;  II.  ii.  6. 

Corse,  corpse,  body ;  II.  iii.  35. 

Counters,  round  pieces  of  metal 
used  in  counting;  II.  ii.  28. 

Cousin,  niece  (a  title  given  to 
any  kinsman  and  kinswom- 
an) ;  I.  ii.  44. 

Creep    in,    steal    secretly    into ; 

III.  iii.  134. 

Critics,  censurers,   carpers ;   V. 

ii.  131. 
Crownets,  coronets ;  Prol.  6. 
Crushed    into,    pressed    into, 

mixed      with       (Warburton, 

"crusted  into"):  I.  ii-  23. 
Cunning,  powerful ;  III.  ii.  136. 
Curious,  causing  care;   III.  ii. 

67. 


151 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Daphne,  the  nymph  beloved  by 
Apollo,  who  fleeing  from  his 
pursuit  was  changed  into  a 
laurel  tree ;  I.  i.  loi. 

Darking,  darkening,  growing 
dark;  V.  viii.  7. 

Date,  dates  were  commonly 
used  in  pastry  in  Shake- 
speare's time ;  I.  ii.  269. 

Daws,  jackdaws;  I.  ii.  255. 

Days,  "  a  whole  week  by  d.," 
every  day  for  a  whole  week; 
IV.  i.  9. 

Dear,  earnest ;  V.  iii.  9. 

Death-tokens,  "  the  spots  which 
indicate  the  approaching 
death  of  persons  infected 
with  the  plague  "  ;  II.  iii.  179. 

Debonair,  gentle,  meek;   I.  iii. 

235. 
Deceptions,  delusive ;  V.  ii.  123. 
Decline,  run  through  in  detail ; 

II.  iii.  55. 

,  fall ;  IV.  V.  189. 

Declined,  fallen;  IV.  v.  189. 
Deem,  thought ;  IV.  iv.  59. 
Deject,  dejected;  II.  ii.  50. 
Depravation,  detraction;  V.  ii. 

132. 
Deputation,   power   deputed   to 

thee ;  I.  iii.  152. 
Deracinate,  uproot ;  I.  iii,  99. 
Derive,  deduce  logically ;  II.  iii. 

63. 
Destiny,    fate    ["  labouring   for 

destiny"  =  "the  viceregent  of 

Fate"  (Malone)]  ;  IV.  v.  184. 
Dexter,  right ;  IV.  v.  128. 
Diana's  waiting-women,  i.e.  the 

stars ;  V.  ii.  91. 
Diminutive  s,   insignificant 

things ;  V.  i.  34. 


Directive,  able  to  be  directed; 
I.  iii.  356. 

Discourse,  reasoning;  V.  ii.  142. 

Discover' d,  revealed,  disclosed; 
I.  iii.  138. 

Discoveries,  (?)  monstrosities 
(Hanmer,  "  debaucheries" ', 
Singer  (Ed.  2),  "discover- 
ers " ;  Collier  MS.,  "  discol- 
ourers")  ;  V.  i.  27. 

Dismes,  tenths  ;  II.  ii.  19. 

Disorb'd,  unsphered  (Quarto, 
"  disorbd  ")  ;  II.  ii.  46. 

Dispose,  disposition ;  II.  iii.  166. 

Disposer,  one  who  can  bring 
another  to  do  anything  (or 
perhaps  =  entertainer)  ;  III. 
i.  91. 

Distains,    stains,    taints ;    I.    iii. 

241- 

Distaste,  dislike ;  II.  ii.  66. 

,   make   distasteful ;    II.   ii, 

123. 

Distasted,  made  distasteful ;  IV. 
iv.  48. 

Distraction,  despair,  madness ; 
V.  ii.  41. 

Dividable,  divided ;   I.   iii.    105. 

Double-henned;  "  perhaps,  with 
a  double  hen,  i.e.  with  a  fe- 
male married  to  two  cocks, 
and  thus  false  to  both " 
(Schmidt)  ;  V.  vii*  11. 

Draught-oxen,  oxen  used  to 
draw  a  cart  or  plough  (Fo- 
lios, "draft-oxen")  ;  II.  i.  iii. 

Drave,  urged  on ;  III.  iii.  190. 

Dress' d,  addressed,  prepared;  I. 
iii.  166. 

Dwells,  depends  on ;  I.  iii,  2,2>^- 

Edge,  sword ;  V.  \.  24. 


152 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Eld,  old  age  (Quarto,  "el- 
ders"; Folios,  "old");  11. 
ii.  104. 

Elements;  "  the  two  moist  e.," 
i.e.  water  and  air;  I.  iii.  41. 

Emhracement,  embracing;  IV. 
V.  148. 

Embrasures,  embraces ;  IV,  iv. 

Emulation,  envy,  jealousy;   II. 

ii.  212, 
Emulous,  envious  (Folios  i,  2, 

"emulations" ;    Folios    3,    4, 

"emulatwus")  ;   II,  iii.  75. 
Encountcrers,  people  who  meet 

others  half-way ;  IV.  v.  58. 
End,  kill,  destroy ;  I.  ii.  79. 
Engine,  instrument ;  II.  iii.  137. 
Enginer,  pioneer;  II.  iii.  8. 
Enter,  to  enter;  II.  iii.  189. 
Entreat,  treat;  IV.  iv.  113. 

■ ,  invite ;  IV.  v.  274. 

Envy,  malice ;  III.  ii.  99. 
Errant,  deviating;  I.  iii.  9. 
Errors,  deceptions;  V.  iii.  iii. 
Exact;  "grace  exact";   v. 

Note ;  I.  iii.  180. 
Exasperate  =  exasperated ;     V. 

i.  30. 
Excitements,  incitements ;  I.  iii. 

182. 
Exclaim,  outcry ;  V.  iii.  91. 
Execute,  practise,  use  ;  V.  vii.  6. 
Execution,  working;  I.  iii.  210. 
Expect,  expectation;  I.  iii.  70. 
Expectance  =  Q.yi^tct2L\\o\\;    IV. 

V.  146. 
Expressure,  expression  ;  III.  iii. 

204. 
Extremes,  ey.\.rtm\ty  ;  IV.  ii.  105. 
Extremity ;  "  the  edge  of  all  e.." 

to  the  uttermost;  IV.  v.  68. 


Faction,  union ;  II.  iii.  102. 

,  take  sides  in  the  quarrel; 

III.  iii.  190. 
Fail,  let  fail ;  V.  i.  44. 
Fair,  well;  IV.  iv.  113. 
Fall,  let  fall ;  I.  iii.  379. 
Fan  =:  winnowing  fan  ;  I.  iii.  27. 


From  an  emblazoning  on  the  shield  of 
Sir  R.  de  Septvans  (d.  1306),  in  Chart- 
ham  Church,  near  Canterbury. 

Fancy,  love ;  IV.  iv.  25. 

,  love  (verb)  ;  V.  ii.  165. 

Fat,  nourish ;  II.  ii.  48. 

Favour,  countenance,  face;  I. 
ii.  95. 

Fee  farm,  "  of  a  duration  that 
has  no  bounds ;  a  fee-farm 
being  a  grant  of  lands  in  fee, 
that  is  for  ever,  reserving  a 
certain  rent"  (Malone)  ;  III. 
ii.  51. 

Fell,  fierce,  savage ;  IV.  v.  269. 

Fills,  shafts  of  a  carriage ;  III. 
ii.  46. 

Finch-egg,  a  term  of  contempt; 
V.  i.  Z7- 

Fitchew,  polecat ;  V.  i.  63. 

Fits,  the  divisions  of  a  song  or 
tune  ;  (perhaps  =:  "  when  the 
humour  takes  you  ")  ;  III.  i. 
58. 


153 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Five-Hngcr-tied.    tied    with    all 
the  fingers  of  the  hand ;  V.  ii. 

Fixture,  stability;  I.  iii.  loi. 
Flat  tamed,  stale,  insipid;  IV.  i. 

62. 
Fled,  have  fled   (Pope,  "get"; 

Capell,       "  Uee  "  ;     Keightley 

conj.  "  have  Ued")  ;  I.  iii.  51. 
Flexure,    bending      (Folios, 

"night");  II.  iii.  109. 
Flood,  ocean,  sea;  I.  i.  105. 
,  "  in  f.,"  in  full  flow ;  I.  iii. 

300. 
Flow  to,  hasten  towards  (John- 
son conj.  "show  too");   V. 

ii.  41. 
Fonder,  more  foolish ;  I.  i.   10. 
For,  against;  I.  ii.  281. 

,  because;  V.  iii.  21, 

Force,  power,  might ;  IV.  i.  18. 

,  stuff;  II.  iii.  224. 

Forced,  stuffed;  V.  i.  60. 
Forthright,  straight  path;   III. 

iii.  158. 
Fraction,  discord;  II.  iii.  loi. 
Fratightage,      freight,      cargo; 

Prol.  13. 
Frayed     with,     frightened     by 

(Quarto,    Folios,    "  fraid")  ; 

III.  ii.  32.  , 


Free,   generous,   noble-minded ; 

IV.  V.  139. 
Friend,  befriend,  favour ;  I.  ii. 

79. 
Frighting,    frightening;    V.    iv. 

34. 

Frush,  bruise,  batter ;  V.  vi.  29, 

Fulfilling,  filling  full ;   Prol.  18. 

Full;  "  in  the  f.,"  in  full  com- 
pany, all  together ;  IV.  v.  272. 

Fusty,  mouldy ;  I.  iii.  161. 

Gaging,  engaging,  binding;   V. 

i.  42. 
Gait,  walk ;  IV.  v.  14. 
Gallantry,  gallants;  III.  i.   135. 
Gear,  matter,  affair ;  I.  i.  6. 
Generals,  collective  qualities ;  I. 

iii.  180. 
Genius,  the  spirit   supposed  to 

direct    the    actions    of    man ; 

IV.  iv.  50. 

Closed,  used  mere  words ;  II.  ii. 

165. 
God-a-mercy,  used  in  the  sense 

of   Gramercy,    many   thanks ; 

V.  iv.  2>2>- 

Goose  of  Winchester,  strumpet 
(the  houses  of  ill-fame  in 
London  were  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Bishop  of  Win- 


— ^^^S^ 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Chester ;  the  annexed  engrav- 
ing, from  Aggas's  map  in 
Guildhall,  represents  the  lo- 
cality— in  Southwark — where 
these  houses  were  situated)  ; 
V.  X.  55. 

Gored,  hurt,  wounded;  III.  iii. 
228. 

Gorget,  throat  armour;  I.  iii. 
174. 


From  a  specimen  in  the  Londesborough 
collection. 

Gracious,  holy;  II.  ii.  125. 
Grated,  ground ;  III.  ii.  192. 
Great  morning,  broad  day;  IV. 

iii.  I. 
Greckish,  Greek;  III.  iii.  211. 
;  "all  the  G.  ears."  i.e.  the 

ears  of  all  the  Greeks ;  I.  iii. 

67. 
Grossness,  bulk;  I.  iii.  325. 

Hair,  grain ;  "  against  the  h." 
=  against  the  grain;  I.  ii.  28. 

Hale,  drag;  IV.  v.  6. 

Hamstring,  tendon  of  the  knee- 
joint  ;  I.  iii.  154. 

Hardiment,  hardihood;  IV.  v. 
28. 

Hare,  timid  (Folios,  "hard")  ; 
II.  ii.  48. 


Hatch'd,  engraved ;  "  h.  in  sil- 
V  e  r,"  probably  =  silver- 
haired;   I.  iii.  65. 

Hateful,  full  of  hate ;  IV.  i.  2>2>- 

Have  at  thee,  be  warned;  V.  iv. 
24. 

Having,  possessions,  endow- 
ments ;  III.  iii.  97. 

Heart;  "  from  h.  of  very  h.," 
from  my  heart's  core ;  IV.  v. 

171. 
Heaving,     swelling,     resentful ; 

II.  ii.   196. 
Hedge   aside,  creep  along  by  the 

hedge     (Quarto,     "turne": 

Collier,    "edge");     III.     iii. 

158. 
Him,  himself ;  I.  ii.  287. 
His,  its ;  I.  iii.  210. 
His=i's;   "Mars   his   idiot  "  = 

Mars's  idiot;  II.  i.  57. 
Hold,  regard  as,  look  upon  as ; 

II.  Tii.   191. 
Holding,    keeping     (Quarto, 

"keeping");  II.  ii.  52. 
Honesty,  chastity ;  I.  ii.  284. 
Hot,  rash ;  V.  iii.  16. 
However,  although  •,  I.  iii.  322. 
Hoy-day,  an  exclamation  ;  V.  i. 

69. 
Hulks,  large,  heavy  ships  (Fo- 
lios, "Inilkes");  II.  iii.   267. 
Humorous,   capricious;    II.   iii. 

132. 
Humota's,  caprices ;  T.  ii'.  23. 
Hung,  made  linger ;  IV.  v.  188. 
Hurricano,  water-spout;  V.  ii. 

172. 
Hurt,  do  harm ;  V.  iii.  20. 
Husbandry,  thrift:  I.  ii.   7. 
Hyperion,  the  sun-god,  Phoebus 

Apollo;  II.  iii.  199. 


155 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Idle,  used  with  play  on  "  ad- 
dle" ;  I.  ii.  139. 

,  useless ;  V.  i.  30. 

Ignomy,  ignominy  (Quarto, 
"  ignomyny")  ;  V,  x.  33. 

Ilion,  Troy  (Quarto,  Folios  i, 
2,  "  Illion")  ;  II.  ii.  109. 

Immaterial,     worthless ;     V.     i. 

35. 

Immures,  walls  (Folio  i, 
"  emiires")  ;  Prol.  8. 

Impair,  unsuitable,  inappropri- 
ate (Quarto,  "  impare" ;  Ca- 
pell,  "  hnpar"  ;  Johnson  conj. 
"impure")  ;  IV.  v.  103. 

Imperious,  imperial;  IV.  v.  172. 

Imposition,  injunction,  the  task 
imposed;  III.  ii.  81. 

Impressure,  impression;  IV.  v. 

131. 

Imputation,    reputation ;    I.    iii. 

339. 

In,  in  the  estimation  of;  II.  ii. 
56.  _ 

,  within,  internally,  mental- 
ly; III.  iii.  97. 

Inches;  "  even  to  his  i.,"  most 
thoroughly,  exactly ;  IV.  v. 
III. 

Includes,  ends,  comes  to  an  end 
(Quarto,  "include")',   I.   iii. 

Indrench'd,  immersed  (Rowe, 
"  intrench' d")  ;  I.  i.  51. 

7w/^cf,' infected;  I.  iii.  187. 

Infinite,  infinity,  immense  great- 
ness ;  II.  ii.  29. 

Inseparate,  indivisible ;  V.  ii. 
148. 

Insist  u  r  e,  persistency,  con- 
stancy ;  I.  iii.  87. 

Instance,  proof;  V.  ii.  153,  155. 


Instant;  "take  the  i.  way," 
serve  the  present  time ;  III. 
iii.  153- 

love's  accord,  i.e.  with  Jove's 
accord,  assent ;  I.  iii.  238. 

Keep,  lodge,  dwell;  IV.  v.  278. 
Ken,  know;  IV.  v.  14. 

Last,  at  last,  in  the  end ;  I.  iii. 

124. 
Lavolt,  i.e.  the  lavota,  a  lively 

dance ;  IV.  iv.  86. 
Lacars,  lepers ;  II.  iii.  36. 
Learn,  teach,  tell ;  II.  i.  22. 
Leather  jerkin,  a  short  leathern 

coat ;  III.  iii.  266. 
Leavening,     the     admixing    of 

sour  dough ;  I.  i.  20. 
Leave  to  see,  give  up  seeing;  V. 

i.  99. 
Let  blood,  bleed;  II.  iii.  214. 
Libya;  "the  banks  of  L.,"  the 

African  desert ;  I.  iii.  328. 
Lie,  you  lie ;  III.  iii.  162. 
Lief,  willingly ;  I.  ii.  107. 
Lifter,  cheat,  thief  (used  quib- 

blingly)  ;  I.  ii.  121. 
Light,  quickly  (Quarto,  Folio  i, 

"  harnest  lyte";   Folios  2,  3, 

4,    "harnest    light";    Theo- 
bald,    "  harness-dight")  ;     1. 

ii.  8. 
Like,  likely  ;  III.  iii.  42. 
Like  as,  as  if;  I.  ii.  7. 
Likes  not  you,  does  not  please 

(Folios,    "likes    not    me"); 

V.  ii.  103. 
Lime-kilns  i'  the  palm,  i.r. gouty 

lumps    (chalk-stones)    in  the 

hand;  V.  i.  25. 


156 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Look  upon,  be  a  spectator; 


V. 


VI.    10 


Lover;  "  your  1.,"  one  who 
loves  you ;  III,  iii.  214. 

Limes,  mad  freaks  (Folios, 
"  lines  " ;  Quarto,  "  course, 
and  time  ")  ;  II.  iii.  133. 

Lust,  pleasure ;  IV.  iv.  132. 

Liistihood,  high  spirits ;  II.  ii. 
50. 

Luxurious,  lustful ;  V.  iv.  9. 

Luxury,  lust ;  V.  ii.  55. 

Maculation,  stain;  IV.  iv.  64. 

Maiden  battle,  unbloody  com- 
bat ;  IV.  V.  87. 

Mail,  coat  of  mail,  armour ;  III, 
iii,  152. 

Main,  general;  I,  iii,  2,73- 

,  full  force ;  II,  iii.  263. 

Manage,  direction,  administra- 
tion;  III.  iii.  25. 

Mark,  attend,  listen  to  ;  V,  vii.  2. 

Mars  his  helm,  Mars'  helmet 
(his  =  possessive)  ;     IV.     v. 

255. 

Marvellous  =  marvellously 
(Pope's  unnecessary  emenda- 
tion ;  Quarto,  Folio  i,  ''  mar- 
vel's " ;  Folios  2,  3,  "  mar- 
vel's"^ ;  abbreviated  form  of 
"  marvellously  "  ;  I.  ii.  141. 

Mastic,  V.  note ;  I.  iii.  73. 

Match,  i.e.  "  I'll  lay  my  life  " ; 
IV.  V.  Z7- 

Matter,  business ;  IV.  ii.  61. 

May,  can  ;  V.  ii.  loi. 

Means  no/ =  means  not  to  be; 
1.  iii.  288. 

Medicinahle,  medicinal  (Quar- 
to, Folios,  "  med'cinahle")  ; 
I.  iii.  91. 


Mends;  "  she  has  the  mends  in 
her  own  hands";  probably  a 
proverbial  expression  =  "  she 
must  make  the  best  of  it " ;  I. 
i.  68. 

Mere,  absolute;  I.  iii.  iii. 

Merry  Greek,  boon-companion ; 
"  The  Greeks  were  prover- 
bially spoken  of  by  the  Ro- 
mans as  fond  of  good  living 
and  free  potations  "  (Nares)  ; 
I.  ii.  112. 

Mill-stones;  "  to  weep  mill- 
stones "  was  a  proverbial  ex- 
pression which  meant  ''  to  re- 
main hard  and  unfeeling  as 
a  stone  "  =  "  not  to  weep  at 
all " ;  I.  ii.  149. 

Milo,  the  famous  Greek  athlete, 
who  was  said  to  be  able  to 
carry  a  bull ;  II.  iii.  248. 

Mirable  =  admirable,  worthy 
of  admiration ;  IV.  v.  142. 

Miscarrying,  being  defeated, 
killed;  I.  iii.  351. 

Misprising,  undervaluing;  IV. 
V.  74. 

Moiety,  part ;  II.  ii.  107. 

Moist,  wet,  damp  ;  I.  iii.  41. 

Monstruosity,  unnaturalness ; 
III.  ii.  28. 

Monumental,  memorial ;  III. 
iii.  153- 

Moral,  meaning ;  IV.  iv.  107. 

Motive,  instrument,  moving 
limb;  IV.  v.  57. 

Multipotent,  almighty;  IV.  v. 
129. 

Myrmidon;  "the  great  m.,"  i.e. 
Achilles,  the  chief  of  the 
myrmidons;  I.  iii.  378. 


157 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Nail,  finger-nail ;  IV.  v.  46. 

Neglection,  neglect;  I.  iii.   127. 

Nice,  accurate ;  IV.  v.  250. 

Nod;  "  to  give  the  nod  "  was  a 
term  in  the  game  of  cards 
called  Noddy ;  the  words 
meant  also  "  a  silly  fellow,  a 
fool  "  ;  I.  ii.  203. 

Noise,  rumour ;  I.  ii.  12. 

Nothing,  nothing  is ;  I.  iii.  239. 

Oblique  (  ?)  indirect  (Hanmer. 
"antique";  Warburion, 
" ohelisque")  ;  V.  i.  56. 

Odd;  "  to  be  o.,"  to  be  at  odds ; 
IV.  V.  265. 

Oddly,  unequally ;  I.  iii.  339. 

O'er-eaten,  "  eaten  and  begnawn 
on  all  sides";  V.  ii.  160. 

O' erf  ailed,  inflamed ;  V.  iii.  55. 

O'er-wrested,  strained  (Pope's 
reading;  Quarto,  Folios  i,  2, 
3,  "  ore-rested " ;  Folio  4, 
"  o'er-rested" ;  Delius  conj. 
"  o'er-jested")  ;  I.  iii.  157. 

Of,  by;  I.  i.  71  ;  II.  iii.  191. 

■ ,  on ;  III.  iii.  265. 

On,  of;  I.  i,  71  ;  III.  iii.  304. 

,  with,  by ;  II.  ii.  143. 

,  in;  III.  ii.  27. 

,   "  crying  on,"   crying  out 

on;  V.  V.  35. 

One;  "  'tis  all  one,"  it  is  all  the 
same ;  I.  i.  80. 

Opes,  opens;  I.  iii.  72,. 

Opinion,  reputation;   I.  iii.  336; 

I.  iii.  2>73- 

,     self-conceit,     arrogance ; 

II.  iii.  265. 

Oppugnancy,  opposition ;  I.  iii. 

III. 
Orchard,  garden ;  III.  ii.  16. 


Orgulous,  proud,  haughty; 
Prol.  2. 

Orifex,  orifice,  aperture;  V.  ii. 
151. 

Oris,  remnants;  V.  ii.  158. 

Overbulk,  overtower  ;  I.  iii.  320. 

Owes,  ownes ;  III.  iii.  99. 

Oyes,  hear  ye ! ;  attend !  the 
usual  introduction  to  a  proc- 
lamation ;  IV.  V.  143. 

Pace,  step,  degree  ;  I.  iii.  132. 
Pageant,   theatrical   exhibition; 

III.  ii.  76. 

Pageants,  mimics;  I.  iii.  151. 

Painted  cloths,  hangings  for 
walls;  V.  X.  47.  {Cp.  illus- 
tration in.  As  You  Like  It.) 

Palating,   perceiving   by   taste; 

IV.  i.  59. 

Palter,  trifle,  shuffle;  II.  iii.  234. 

Paradoxes,  absurdities  (John- 
son conj.  "parodies")  ;  I.  iii. 
184. 

Parallels,  i.e.  parallel  lines ;  I. 
iii.  168. 

Pard,  leopard;  III.  ii.  198. 

Part,  party,  side  ;  I.  iii.  352. 

Parted;  "  how  dearly  ever  p.," 
however  richly  endowed  by 
nature ;  III.  iii.  96. 

Partial,  to  which  they  are  in- 
clined; II.  ii.  178. 

Particular;  "toucheth  my  p.,"  I 
am  personally  concerned;  II. 
ii.  9- 

,  personal,  with  play  upon 

general;  IV.  v.  20. 

Parts,  gifts,  endowments ;  III. 
iii.  117, 

Parts  of  nature,  natural  gifts, 
II.  iii.  243. 


158 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Party,  side ;  II.  ii.  156. 

Pash,  strike  {Q\i2irio," push")  ; 

II.  iii.  205. 
Fashed,  struck  down ;  V.  v.  10. 
Pass,   experience,    suffer    (Col- 
lier   MS.,    "poise")  ;    II.    ii. 

139- 
Passed  =  surpassed,        beggars 

description;  I.  ii.  173. 
Past    proportions,    immensity ; 

II.  ii.  29. 
Patchery,    gross    and    bungling 

hypocrisy;   II.  iii.  y^- 
Peace,  be   still,  be   silent;   I.  i. 

92. 
Peevish,  foolish  ;  V.  iii.  16. 
Pelting,  paltry ;  IV.  v.  267. 
Perdition,    destruction ;     V.    ii. 

145- 

Perforce,  of  necessity ;  I.  iii. 
123. 

Performance,  carrying  out;  II. 
ii.  196. 

Per  se,  by  himself,  pre-emi- 
nent; I.  ii.  15. 

Perseus'  horse,  Pegasus,  the 
winged  horse  ridden  by  Per- 
seus ;  I.  iii.  42. 

Persistive,  patient,  persevering ; 
I.  iii.  21. 

Person,  personal  appearance; 
IV.  iv.  79. 

Pertly,  saucily;  IV.  v.  219. 

Pheese,  make  to  hurry,  drive, 
beat;  II.  iii.  207. 

Pia  mater,  brain ;  II.  i.  74. 

Piece,  cask  of  wine;  IV.  i.  62. 

PigJit,  pitched;  V.  x.  24. 

Placket,  petticoat,  woman ;  II. 
iii,  22. 

Plague;  "the  p.  of  Greece," 
"  alluding     perhaps     to     the 


plague  sent  by  Apollo  on  the 
Grecian  army"  (Johnson); 
II.  i.  13. 

Plaguy,  pestilently  (used  with 
play  upon  the  word  "  death- 
tokens  ")  ;  II.  iii.  179. 

Plantagc,  anything  planted 
("plants  were  supposed  to 
improve  as  the  moon  in- 
creases") (Nares)  ;  III.  ii. 
181. 

Poised,  weighed,  balanced;  I. 
iii-  339. 

Politic  regard,  a  look  full  of 
meaning ;  perhaps,  shrewd, 
or  sly ;  III.  iii.  254. 

Porpentine,  porcupine;  II.  i. 
27. 

Port,  gate;  IV.  iv.  iii. 

Possess,  put  you  in  possession, 
inform;  IV.  iv.  112. 

Possession;  "  her  p.,"  posses- 
sion of  her;  II.  ii.  152. 

Power,  armed  force;  I.  iii.  139. 

Pregnant,  ready ;  IV.  iv.  88. 

Prenominate,  foretell ;  IV.  v. 
250. 

Presented,  represented ;  depict- 
ed; III.  ii.  76. 

Presently,  immediately;  II.  iii. 
142. 

Pricks,  points ;  I.  iii.  343. 

Primogenitive,  right  of  primo- 
geniture (Quarto,  "  primo- 
genitie  "  ;  Rowe,  4,"  primogeni- 
ture ")  ;  I.  iii.  106. 

Private  soul,  personal  opinion ; 
IV.  v.  III. 

Prodigious,  portentous ;  V.  i. 
96. 

Proof,  the  thing  which  is 
proved ;  V.  v.  29. 


159 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Proof  of  more  strength,  strong- 
er proof;  V.  ii.  113. 
Propend,  incline ;  II.  ii.  190. 
Propension,  inclination ;   II.   ii. 

133. 

Proper,  handsome,  comely;  I. 
ii.  200, 

,  own ;  II.  ii.  89. 

Propugnation,  means  of  com- 
bat, defence ;  II.  ii.  136. 

Protractive,  prolonged;  I.  iii. 
20. 

Prove  =  prove  ourselves  ;  III. 
ii.  93. 

Pun,  pound,  dash  to  pieces;  II. 

i.  41. 
Puttock,  kite ;  V.  I.  64. 

Quality,  cause,  reason ;  IV.  i. 
44. 

;  "full  of  q.,"  highly  ac- 
complished; IV.  iv.  jG. 

Question,  conversation,  inter- 
course; IV.  i.  II. 

Rank,  rankly ;  I.  iii.  196. 
Ransack' d,  stolen,  carried  off ; 

II.  ii.  150. 
Rape,  carrying  off;  II.  ii.  148. 
,  Rash,     urgent,     hasty     (Rowe, 

"harsh")  ;  IV.  ii.  61. 
Reck  not,  care  not ;  V.  vi.  26. 
Recordation,    remembrance; 

"  to  make  a  r.  to  my  soul," 

i.e.  to  recall  to  mind ;  V.  ii. 

116. 
Recourse,  frequent  flowing ;  V. 

iii.  55.^ 
Rein;   "in   such   a   r.,"   bridles 

up  ;  I.  iii.  189. 
Rejoindure,  joining  again;  IV. 

iv.  36. 


Relation,  report,  narration ;  III. 
iii.  201. 

Reproof,  confutation,  refuta- 
tion; I.  iii.  3S^ 

Repured,  refined,  purified  (Fo- 
lios, "  reputed  '*)  ;  III.  ii.  21. 

Respect,  deliberation,  reflec- 
tion ;  II.  ii.  49. 

,    i.e.    the    respect    due    to 

thee ;  V.  iii.  73. 

Retire,  retreat;  V.  iii.  53;  V. 
iv.  21. 

Retort,  throw  back;  III.  iii. 
loi. 

Revolt,  rebellion ;  V.  ii.  146. 

,  rebel ;  V.  ii.  144. 

Rheum,  cold  watering;  V.  iii. 
105. 

Ribald,  noisy  (Ingleby  conj. 
"rabble");  IV.  ii.  g. 

Rich;  "  the  r.  shall  have  more," 
probably  alluding  to  the 
Scriptural  phrase,  "  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given";  I. 
ii.  205. 

Right,  exactly;  I.  iii.  170. 

Rive,  be  split;  I.  i.  35. 

Roisting,  roistering ;  II.  ii.  208. 

Roundly,  plainly;  III.  ii.  158. 

Rub  on,  and  kiss  the  mistress; 
"  The  allusion  is  to  bowling. 
What  we  now  call  the  Jack 
seems,  in  Shakespeare's  time, 
to  have  been  termed  the  mis- 
tress. A  bowl  that  kissed  the 
Jack  or  mistress  is  in  the 
most  advantageous  position. 
Rub  on  is  a  term  at  the  same 
game"  (Malone)  ;  III.  ii.  50. 

Ruin,  overthrow,  fall ;  V.  iii.  58. 

Ruth,  pity;  V.  iii.  48. 

Ruthful,  piteous ;  V.  iii.  48. 


160 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


Sacred,  consecrated  (an  appro- 
priate epithet  of  royalty)  ; 
IV.  V.  134- 

Sagittary,  Centaur ;  V.  v.  14. 

Salt,  bitter ;  I.  iii.  371. 

Sans,  without;   I.  iii.  94. 

Savage  strangeness,  unpolished 
rude  reserve  ;  II.  iii.  129. 

Scaffoldage,  the  woodwork  of 
the  stage  (Folios  i,  2,  3, 
"  Scaffolage  "  \  Quarto, 
" Scoaffollage")  ;   I.  iii.   156. 

Scaled,  having  scales ;  V.  v.  22. 

Scantling,  small  portion;  1.  iii. 

341- 
Scar,  wound ;  I.  i.  1 14. 
Scorn,  laugh  to  scorn,  make  a 

mock  of;  I.  i.  114. 
Sculls,  shoals  (Folios,  "sculs"; 

Pope,  "shoals";  Anon.  conj. 

"schools")  ;  V.  v.  22. 
Seam,  lard;  II.  iii.  187. 
Secure,    over-confident ;    II.    ii. 

15. 

Securely,  carelessly,  confident- 
ly ;  IV.  V.  73- 

See  =  see  each  other ;  IV.  iv. 
57.  _ 

Seeming,  show;  I.  iii.  I57- 

Seethes,  is  urgent,  in  hot  haste ; 
III.  i.  41. 

Seld,  seldom ;  IV.  v.  150. 

Self-affected,  self-loving ;  II. 
iii.  240. 

Self-breath,  his  own  words;  II. 
iii.  174- 

Sennet,  a  set  of  notes  on  the 
cornet  or  trumpet ;  I.  iii. 
Stage  Direc. 

Sequestering,  separating,  put- 
ting aside;  III.  iii.  8. 


Serpigo,  eruption  on  the  skin, 

leprosy;  II.  iii.  76. 
Set  to,  oppose  to  ;  II.  i.  90. 
Severally,    separately;    9V.    v. 

274. 
Severals,    individual    qualities ; 

I.  iii.  180. 

'Sfoot,   a   corruption   of   God's 

foot',  II.  iii.  5- 
Shame,  disgrace;  V.  iii.  7Z- 
She,  woman;  I.  ii.  301,  303. 
Shent,  put   to   shame,   reviled; 

II.  iii.  82. 

Shipmen,  seamen,  sailors ;  V.  ii. 

172. 
Shoeing-horn,  "  the  emblem  of 

one  who  is  a  subservient  tool 

to  the  caprices  of  another  " ; 

V.  i.  57- 
Short-armed,  not  reachmg  far 

(Dyce      conj.      "short- 

aimed")  ;  II.  iii.  i5- 
Should,  would;  I.  iii.  112,  114, 

115,  116,  118. 
Shrewd,   cunning,    keen ;    I.    ii. 

197. 
Shrewdly,  quite  badly ;  III.  iii. 

228. 
Shrills  forth,  utters  loudly;  V. 

iii.  84. 
Sick,  envious ;  I.  iii.  133. 
Sieve,    wicker    basket,    voider 

(Quarto,    "sine";     Folio     i, 

"same";     Folios     2,     3,     4- 

"place";     Delius     conj. 

"sink";     Anon,     conj., 

"safe");  II.  ii.  71- 
Sinister,  left;  IV.  v.  128. 
Sith,  since;  I.  iii.  13. 
Skilless,  ignorant ;  I.  i.  12. 
Sleave  silk,  soft  floss  silk  used 

for  weaving;  V.  i.  31. 


161 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Sleeveless,  bootless ;  V.  iv.  9. 

Sluttish,  unchaste  (Collier 
conj.  "skittish")  ;  IV.  v.  62. 

Smiled  at,  mock  at,  laugh  de- 
risively at  (Hanmer,  "smite 
all  Troy  "  ;  Warburton, 
"smite  at  Troy";  etc.);  V. 
X.  7. 

So,  in  such  a  way;  under  such 
conditions  ;  11.  ii.  145. 

Soilure,  stain  (Quarto, 
"soyle")]  IV.  i.  56. 

Sometime  =    sometimes  ;  I.  iii. 

151. 

Sort,  lot;  I.  iii.  376. 

,  manner ;  V.  x.  5. 

Sorts,  befits,  is  fitting;  I.  i.  109. 

Specialty;  "the  s.  of  rule,"  i.e. 
"the  particular  rights  of  su- 
preme authority  "  ( J  o  h  n- 
son)  ;  (Folios  3,  4,  "special- 
ity ")  ;  I.  iii.  78. 

Speculation,  the  power  of  see- 
ing; III.  iii.  109. 

Spend  his  mouth,  bark  ;  V.  i.  94. 

Sperr,    shut,    bar    (Theobald's 

emendation    of    Folios    i,    2, 

^"  Stirre"',     Collier     MS., 

"  S  p  arre"  ;  Capell, 

"Sperrs")  ;  Prol.  19. 

Sphered,  placed  in  a  sphere;  I. 
iii.  90. 

,  rounded,  swelled  ;  IV.  v.  8. 

Spirits    (monosyllabic)  ;    Prol. 


fit   of  laughter;    I. 


20. 
Spleen, 

178. 
;  "the  weakest  s."  =  "  the 

dullest    and    coldest   heart  "  ; 

II.  ii.  128. 
Spleens,  impulses,  caprices;  II. 

ii.  196. 


Splinter,  splintering,  breaking; 

I.  iii.  283. 

Spoils,  prey ;  IV.  v.  62. 
Spritely,  spirited ;  II.  ii.  190. 
Square,  judge;  V.  ii.  132. 
Stale,  vapid,  used  up   (Quarto, 

"pale")  ;  II.  ii.  79- 
,  make  common,  vulgarize ; 

II.  iii.  193. 

Starts,  startles ;  V.  ii.  loi. 

State;  "this  noble  s.,"  stately, 
noble  train;  II.  iii.  112. 

Stickler-like,  like  an  umpire  in 
a  combat ;  V.  viii.  18. 

Still,  continually,  always;  IV. 
V.  195- 

S  tit  hied,  forged ;  IV.  v.  255. 

Stomach,  inclination  (with  a 
quibble  on  other  sense  = 
courage)  ;  IV.  v.  264. 

Stomach,  courage ;  II.  i.  131. 

Stool  for  a  witch  (the  sub- 
joined engraving  represents  a 


162 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


specimen  of  the  ducking-stool 
belonging  to  the  corporation 
of  Ipswich)  ;  II.  i.  6. 

Straight,  straightway,  immedi- 
ately; III.  ii.  i6. 

Strain,  difficulty,  doubt 
(Keightley  conj.  "doubt"); 
I.  iii.  326. 

,  impulse;  II.  ii.  154. 

Strange,  reserved ;  II.  iii.  240. 

Strawy,  resembling  straw  (Fo- 
lios, "  straying  ")  ;  V.  v.  24. 

Stretch'd,  affected,  exaggera- 
ted; 1.  iii.  156. 

Stygian  hanks,  banks  of  the 
river  Styx,  the  river  of  the 
infernal  regions  over  which 
Charon  ferried  the  souls  of 
the  dead;  III.  ii.  9. 

Suhdiiements,  victories ;  IV.  v. 
187.  . 

Subscribes,  submits,  yields ;  IV. 
V.  105. 

Substance,  wealth ;  I,  iii.  324. 

Success,  result,  issue;  I.  iii. 
340. 

Sufferance,  suffering;   I.   i.  28. 

Suffocate  =  suffocated ;  I.  iii. 
125. 

Sum,  count  up ;  II,  ii.  28. 

Sunburnt,  tanned  by  the  sun, 
hence  plain,  not  fair ;  I.  iii. 
282. 

Suppose,  supposition;  I.  iii.  11. 

Sure,  surely ;  V.  ii.  126. 

Swath,  grass  cut  by  the  scythe ; 
V.  V.  25. 

Swounding,  swooning  (Quarto, 
Folios,  "  Sounding  "  ;  Pope, 
"  Swooning  ")  ;  III.  ii.  22. 

Tables,  tablets ;  IV.  v.  60. 


Tabourines,  drums  ;   IV.  v.  275. 

Tarre  on,  incite,  urge  on ;  I.  iii. 
392. 

Tender  objects,  tender  feeling; 
IV.  V.  106. 

Tent,  probe  for  searching  a 
wound ;  II.  ii.  16. 

Tercel,  male  hawk  (the  an- 
nexed engraving  represents  a 
falconer  on  the  borders  of  a 
lake  arousing  the  ducks  to 
flight  that  the  hawk  may 
strike  them)  ;  III.  ii.  54. 


From  Queen  Mary's  Psalter  (XlVth 
cent.)  Royal  MS  2B  vii. 

Tetchy,  touchy,  peevish  (Quar- 
to, Folios,  "  teachy")  ',  I.  i. 
99. 

That,  that  person ;  II.  iii.  191. 

Thetis,  a  sea-goddess,  mother 
of  Achilles ;  "  confounded 
with  Tethys,  the  wife  of 
Oceanus,  and  used  for  the 
sea,  the  ocean"  (Schmidt); 
I.  iii.  39. 

Thicker,  quicker;  III.  ii.  36. 

This  =  this  way,  thus  ;  I.  ii.  12. 

Through  warm,  thoroughly 
warmed;  II.  iii.  224. 

Throw  my  glove,  challenge; 
IV.  iv.  63. 

Thwart,  athwart,  crosswise;  I. 
iii.  15. 

Tick,  an  insect;  III.  iii.  312. 


163 


Glossary 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Tickle  it,  make  him  pay ;  V.  ii. 

177; 

Ticklish,  wanton  (Folios," tick- 
ling ■')  ;  IV.  V.  6i. 

Tide,  right  time ;  V.  i.  86. 

Titan,  the  god  of  the  sun ;  V.  x. 

25. 

Tithe,  tenth ;  II.  ii.  19. 

To,  in  addition  to ;  I.  i.  7. 

,  compared  to;  I.  iii.  344. 

,  set  to,  onward;  II.  i.  114. 

Toast,  a  dainty  morsel  (Beck- 
ett conj.  "tot'';  Halliwell 
conj.  "boast")  ;  I.  iii.  45. 

Topless,  immeasurably  high, 
supreme  (Warburton,  "stop- 
less")  ;  I.  iii.  152. 

Tortive,  distorted ;  I.  iii.  9. 

Traded,  practised,  professional ; 
II.  ii.  64. 

Train,  entice,  draw ;  V.  iii.  4. 

Transportance,  transport ;  III. 
ii.  II. 

Troy  walls,  the  walls  of  Troy; 
I.  iii.  12. 

Trump,  trumpet ;  III.  iii.  210. 

Trumpet,  trumpeter ;  I.  iii.  256. 

Turtle,  turtle-dove;  III.  ii.  182. 

'Twixt,  between;  II.  ii.  64. 

Typhon  =  Typhorus,  a  fabu- 
lous giant,  who  attempted  to 
dethrone  Jove,  but  was  de- 
feated and  imprisoned  under 
Etna;  I.  iii.  160. 

Unarm' d,  when  unarmed ;  I.  iii. 

235. 
Uncomprehcnsiz'C,    i  n  c o  m p  r  e- 

hensible,  mysterious ;  III.  iii. 

198. 
Undergo,     undertake ;     III.     ii. 

81. 


Under-honest,  "  too  little  hon- 
ourable " ;  II.  iii.   127. 

Underwrite,  submit  to;  II.  iii. 
131. 

Ungracious,  hateful ;  I.  i.  92. 

Unity;  "  if  there  be  rule  in  u. 
itself,"  i.e.  "  If  there  be  cer- 
tainty in  unity,  if  there  be  a 
rule  that  one  is  one  "  (John- 
son) ;  V.  ii.  141. 

Unknown;  "  u.  Ajax,"  i.e. 
"  having  abilities  which  were 
never  brought  into  view  or 
use "      (Johnson)  ;     III.     iii. 

125. 

Unmingled  (quadri syllabic)  ;  I. 
iii.  30. 

Unplausivc,  displeased  (Quar- 
to,   "  xinpaulsivc")  ;    III.    iii. 

43. 

Unrespective,  used  at  random; 
II.  ii.  71. 

Unsquared, not  shaped  or  adap- 
ted to  the  purpose  (Quarto, 
"  unsquare")  ;  I.  iii.  159. 

Un traded,  unhackneyed;  IV.  v. 
178. 

Unwholesome,  un-appetizing ; 
II.  iii.  123. 

Usage,  treatment;   IV.  iv.   119. 

Use,  utility ;  "  dear  in  use  "  = 
very  useful ;  III.  iii.  128. 

Use  to,  make  a  practice;  II.  i. 
51- 

Vail,  setting ;  V.  viii.  7. 
Valiantly,  bravely,  finely   (used 

ironically)  ;  I.  ii.  129. 
Vantbrace,  armour  for  the  arm 

(Quarto,     "vantbrace")  ;     I. 

iii.  297. 


164 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Glossary 


From  a  specimen  in  the  Meyrick 
collection. 

Varlet,  servant  to  a  knight ;  I. 
i.  I. 

,    (?)     =  harlot    (perhaps 

the  old  speUings  show  a 
blending  of  (i)  varlet  and 
(2)  harlot;  Quarto,  Folios  i, 
2,  3,  "varlot";  Thirlby  conj. 
"harlot");  V.  i.  18. 

Vassalage,  vassals ;   III.  ii.  38. 

Vaunt,  first  beginning;  Prol.  27. 

Venomous,  malignant;  IV.  ii. 
12. 

Vents,  outlets  ;  V.  iii.  82. 

Very,  mere ;  III.  iii.  126. 

Villain,  a  term  of  endearment ; 
III.  ii.  33. 

Vindicative,  vindictive ;  IV.  v. 
107. 

Vinewed'st,  most  mouldy 
(Quarto,  "  vnsalted" ;  Fo- 
lios, "  whined' st  "  ;  Theobald, 
"  unwinnou/d'st" ;  etc);  II. 
i.  15- 

Violenteth,  is  violent,  doth 
rage ;  IV.  iv.  4. 

Visarded,  covered  with  a  mask 
or  vizor  =.  masked  ;  I.  iii.  83. 

Voices,  applause,  applauding 
voices ;  I.  iii.  382. 

Fo/imtory  =  voluntarily ;  II.  i. 
99,  100,  lOI. 


Waftage,  passage ;  III.  ii.  10. 

Wails,  bewails;  IV.  v.  289. 

Wallet,  knapsack;  III.  iii.   145. 

Ward,  guard  (a  term  in  fen- 
cing) ;  "  at  what  w.,"  in  what 
posture  of  defence ;  I.  ii.  280. 

JVare,  aware;  IV.  ii.  56. 

Watched,  a  term  in  falconry; 
hawks  were  kept  from  sleep- 
ing =  watched,  to  tame  them  ; 
III.  ii.  43. 

Waterilies,  used  contemptuous- 
ly, the  emblem  of  vanity ;  V. 

i.  34- 

Watery,  watering,  desiring; 
III.  ii.  20. 

Weather;  "  keeps  the  w.,"  has 
the  advantage ;  =  weather- 
gage  (a  nautical  term)  ;  V. 
iii.  26. 

Weeds,  garments;  III.  iii.  239. 

When  that  ^  when  ;  I.  iii.  81. 

Where,  so  that ;  IV.  iv.  ZZ- 

Whom,  which ;  III.  iii.  201. 

Whosoever,  let  him  be  whoso- 
ever he  will ;  I.  ii.  199. 

Without,  externally,  physically ; 
III.  iii.  97. 

Works  =■  work,  what  we  have 
been  able  to  accomplish 
(Singer  conj.  "  mocks  "  ;  Col- 
lier MS.,"  wrecks  " ;  Kinnear 
conj.  "wars")  ;  I.  iii.  18. 

Worth,  worthy  of ;  V.  iii.  93. 

Worthier  =  men  worthier ;  II. 
iii.  128. 

Wrest,  instrument  for  tighten- 
ing the  strings  of  a  harp 
(used  here  figuratively)  ;  III. 
iii.  23. 


Yond,  yonder;  IV.  v.  13. 


16S 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Critical  Notes. 

BY   ISRAEL   GOLLANCZ. 

Prol.  15.  '  six-gated  'city  ' ;  Theobald,  '  six  gates  i'  th'  city.' 

Prol.  16.  '  Timbria,  Helias,  Chetas,  Troien'  so  Folios ;  Theo- 
bald reads,  '  Thymbria,  Ilia,  Sccea,  Troian ' ;  Capell,  '  Thymbria, 
Ilias,  Chetas,  Troyan.' 

Prol.  17.  '  Antenorides' ;  Theobald's  emendation  of  Folios,  'An- 
tenonidus';  Pope  reads,  'Anteroridas.' 

Prol.  23.  'A  prologue  arm'd';  i.e.  clad  in  armour  instead  of  in 
a  black  cloak,  which  was  the  usual  garb  of  the  speaker  of  the 
Prologue. 

Prol.  28.  '  Beginning  in  the  middle ' ;  Theobald  reads,  '  'Ginning 
i'  th'  middle.' 

1.  i.  31.  'So,  traitor! — "When  she  comes!" — When  is  she 
thence  f ' ;  Quarto,  '  So  traitor  then  she  comes  when  she  is  thence ' ; 
Folios,    So  {Traitor)  then  she* comes,  when  she  is  thence.' 

I.  i.  S7.  '  a  storm ' ;  Rowe's  correction  of  Quarto,  '  a  scorne ' ; 
Folios  I,  2,  '  a-scorne ' ;  Folios  3,  4,  '  a-scorn.' 

I.  i.  45.  'praise  her';  so  Quarto;  Folios  read,  'praise  it.' 

1.  i.  55.  '  Handiest  in  thy  discourse,  O,  that  her  hand,'  etc. ; 
Theobald,  '  discourse — hozu  white  her  hand ' ;  similar  emendations 
have  been  proposed,  but  probably  'that  her  hand' =^' that  hand 
of  hers.' 

I.  i.  78-79.  '  as  fair  on  Friday  as  Helen  is  on  Sunday ' ;  i.e.  as 
beautiful  in  her  worst  dress  as  Helen  in  her  '  Sunday  best.' 

I.  ii.  162.  '  tzvo  and  fifty ' ;  so  Quarto,  Folios ;  Theobald  reads, 
'  one  and  fifty ' ;  '  hairs ' ;  Quarto  reads,  *  heires.' 

I.  ii.  250.  'an  eye';  so  Quarto;  Folios  read,  'money';  Collier 
conj.  'one  eye.' 

I.  ii.  300.  'joy's  soul  lies  in  the  doing,'  so  Quarto,  Folio  i; 
Folios  2,  3,  4  read,  '  the  soules  joy  lyes  in  dooing.'  Mason  conj. 
'  dies ' ;  Seymour  conj.  '  lives'  etc. 

I.  iii.  31.  'thy  godlike';  Theobald's  emendation;  Quarto,  'the 
godlike  ' ;  Folios,  '  thy  godly ' ;  Pope,  '  thy  goodly' 

I.  iii.  54.  '  Retorts ' ;  Dyce's  emendation ;  Quarto,  Folios  read, 
'  Retires.' 

166 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Notes 


I.  iii.  70-75.  Omitted  in  Quarto. 

I.  iii.  yz-  '  Mastic,'  perhaps  a  corrupt  form  of  L.  mastigia,  a  ras- 
cal that  ought  to  be  whipped ;  later,  a  scourge ;  the  more  usual 
form  of  the  word  was  '  mastix,'  cp.  '  His  trio  mas  tix.' 

I.  iii.  92.  'ill  aspects  of  planets  evil';  so  Folios;  Quarto,  * in- 
Huence. of  euill  Planets' 

I.  iii.  153.  'And,  like  a  strutting  player.'  Cp.  the  accompanying 
illustration,  where  Apollo  as  a 
quack  doctor,  and  his  assistant, 
are  helping  Charon,  who  is  old 
and  blind,  to  mount  the  steps 
of  the  stage. 

I.  iii.  220.  'Achilles";  John- 
son conj.  'Alcides'.' 

I.  iii.  238.  'And,  Jove's  ac- 
cord' i.e.  *  And,  Jove  granting 
or  favouring ' ;  various  emen- 
dations have  been  proposed  on 
the  supposition  that  the  pas- 
sage is  corrupt. 

I-  iii-  315,  354-356.  Omitted 
in  Quarto. 

II.  i.  30-32.  '  When  thou  art   . 
II.  i.  119.  'brooch';  Rowe,  'brach';  Malone  conj.  'brock.' 

II.  ii.  77.  'an  old  aunt  whom  the  Greeks  held  captive,'  i.e. 
"  Priam's  sister,  Hesione,  whom  Hercules,  being  enraged  at 
Priam's  breech  of  faith,  gave  to  Telamon,  who  by  her  had  Ajax  " 
(Malone). 

II.  ii.  no.  'Our  firebrand  brother,  Paris,'  alluding  to  Hecuba's 
dream  that  she  should  be  delivered  of  a  burning  torch. 

II.  ii.  166.  'Aristotle  thought' ;  Rowe  and  Pope  proposed  '  ^rat'^r 
sages  think,'  to  save  Shakespeare  from  the  terrible  anachronism. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that  Aristotle  speaks  of  political  and  not  of 
moral  philosophy;  and,  further,  that  Bacon  makes  the  same  mis- 
take in  his  Advancement  of  Learning,  Book  II.  (published  1605). 

II.  iii.  69.  '  of  the  prover,'  the  reading  of  Quarto :  Folios  read, 
'to  the  Creator';  Rowe  (ed.  2),  'to  thy  creator';  Capell,  'of  thy 
creator.' 

II.  iii.  82.  'He  shent  our,'  Theobald's  emendation;  Quarto 
reads,  'He  sate  our' ;  Folios,  'He  sent  our.' 

II.  iii.  108.  '  The  elephant  hath  joints,  but  none  for  courtesy.' 
"The  popular  opinion  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  that  the  elephant 

167 


From  a  Greek  vase  in  the  Hope  collec- 
tion. 


another';  omitted  in  Folios. 


Notes 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


had  no  flexibility  of  legs,  that  they  were  jointless.  and  that  he 
rested  and  slept  by  leaning  against  a  tree,  which  being  adroitly 
cut  down,  left  him  at  the  mercy  of  his  captors." 


^Tj^^ji^ 

h 

k^= 

&m1 

l^^^^C'-^^mM^^^ 

i 

^^^^^^^^\ 

'  The  elephant  so  huge  and  stronge  to  see, 
No  perill  fear'd;  but  thought  a  sleepe  to  gaine, 
But  foes  before  had  undermin'de  the  tree, 
And  dozi'ne  he  falles;  and  so  by  them  was  slaine.' 

From  Whitney's  Emblems,  1596. 

II.  iii.  144.  'Enter  you';  so  Folios;  Quarto  reads,  '  entertaine.' 

III.  i.  Ill,  The  reading  of  Folios;  omitted  in  Quarto. 

III.  ii.  70.  'fears';  so  Folio  3;  Quarto,  Folios  i,  2,  '  teares' ; 
Folio  4,  '  tears.' 

III.  ii.  157.  'show';  Folios  i,  2,  3, 
'  shczi'=  showed.' 

III.  iii.  4.  'through  the  sight  I 
bear  in  things  to  love';  (?) 
'  through  my  peculiar  knowledge  as 
to  where  it  is  well  to  place  affec- 
tion ' ;  Johnson  proposed  '  Jove '  for 
'  love,'  reading,  '  through  the  sight  I 
bear  in  things,  to  Jove  J  have  aban- 
doned/ etc.,  but  Jove  favoured  the 
Trojans.  No  very  satisfactory  ex- 
planation has  been  advanced. 

III.  iii.  30.  '  Jn  most  accepted 
pain,'  =  trouble  willingly  undergone. 
Hanmer  suggested  '  pay  '  for  '  pain.' 

III.  iii.  47,  48.  'pride  hath  no  other 
"The  allusion  seems  borrowed 


''Pride  hath  no  other  glass. 

glass  to  show  itself  but  pride 


168 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Notes 


from  the  emblematic  pictures  of  Pride,  common  to  the  Shake- 
spearian era,"  one  of  which,  from  Kuchlein's  illustrations  of  the 
festivities  at  Stuttgart  in  1609,  is  here  reproduced. 

III.  iii.  no.  '  mirror' d,'  the  reading  of  Singer  MS.  and  Collier 
MS. ;  Quarto,  Folios,  '  married  ' ;  Keightley,  '  arrived  ' ;  etc. 

III.  iii.  175.  '  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin,' 
i.e.  one  touch  of  human  nature,  one  natural  trait,  shows  the  kin- 
ship of  all  mankind,  viz.  that  they  praise  new-born  gawds,  and  are 
always  hankering  after  novelty. 

III.  iii.  194.  'one  of  Priam's  daughters' ',  i.e.  '  Polyxena,  in  the 
act  of  marrying  whom  she  was  afterwards  killed  by  Paris.' 

III.  iii.  303.  '  the  fiddler  Apollo:'  In  the  mythological  art  of  the 
Shakespearian  era,  the  lyre  is  often  replaced  by  a  fiddle  in  the  hands 
of  Apollo  as  is  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  cut,  copied  from  a 
volume   descriptive   of   the   festivities   held   at   Antwerp   in    1582. 

IV.  ii.  73.  '  secrets  of  nature  ' ;  so 
Folios;  Quarto,  'secrets  of  neighbor 
Pandar';  Theobald,  '  secret' st  things  of 
nature ' ;  Hanmer,  *'  secretest  of  na- 
tures' etc.,  etc. 

IV.  iv.  4.  '  violenteth  in  a  sense  as 
strong,  As  that  which ' ;  so  Quarto ; 
Folios  read,  '  no  lesse  in  .  .  .  As  that 
which,'  etc.;  Pope,  'in  its  sense  is  no 
less  strong,  than  that  Which.' 

IV.  iv.  75-78.  The  reading  in  the  text 
is  Staunton's ;  many  emendations  have 
been  proposed,  but  this  is  generally  ac- 
cepted by  modern  editors. 

IV.  iv.  144-148;  V.  165-170.  Omitted 
in  Quarto. 

IV.  V.  29.  Omitted    in     Folios ;     the 
reading  of  Quarto;  Collier  MS.  reads,  'And  parted  you  by  your 
same  argument.' 

IV.   V.    59.    'accosting,'   Theobald's    conj, 
coasting ' ;  Collier  MS.,  '  occasion  ' ;  etc. 

IV.  V.  142.  'Ncoptolemus  so  mirable';  Hanmer  reads,  'Neop- 
tolemus'  sire  so  mirable';  Warburton,  'Neoptolemus's  sire  iras- 
cible'; Collier  conj.  ' Neoptolemiis  so  admirable'  etc. 

V.  i.  23-26.  '  raw  .  .  .  tetter,'  the  reading  of  Quarto ;  omitted 
in  Folios,  substituting  '  and  the  like.' 

V.  i.  58.  'hanging  at  his  brother's  leg';  so  Folios;  Quarto 
reads,  '  at  his  bare  leg.' 

169 


'  The  fiddler  Apollo: 


Quarto,    Folios, 


Notes 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


V.  ii,  75.  '  Well  said,  whetstone.'     Cp.  the  subjoined  illustrative 
drawing  from  an  old  book  of  emblems. 

'  The  whettstone  is  a  knave  that  all  men  know, 
Yet  many  on  him  doe  much  cost  bestowe: 
Hee's  us'd  almost  in  every  shoppe,  hut  whye? 
An  edge  must  needs  he  set  on  every  lye.' 


The  ^ 

^     irmi 

wKeilstone 

IT 

^ 

L^ 

V.  ill.  20-21.  '  as  lawful.  For  we  would  give  much,  to  use  violent 
thefts' ;  Tyrwhitt's  conj.;  Folios  read,  'as  lawfull:  For  we  would 
count  give  much  to  as  violent  thefts.' 

V.  iii.  112.  The  Folio  here  inserts: — 

"  Pand,  Why,  hut  heare  you? 
Troy.    Hence  brother  lackie;  ignomie  and  shame 

Pursue  thy  life,  and  live  aye  with  thy  name." 

Cf.  Sc.  X. 

V.  vii.  6.  'aims';  so  Capell ;  Quarto,  Folio  2,  '  armes';  Folio  i, 
'  arme ' ;  Folios  3,  4,  '  arms.' 


170 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Explanatory  Notes. 

The  Explanatory  Notes  in  this  edition  have  been  specially  selected  and 
adapted,  with  emendations  after  the  latest  and  best  authorities,  from  the 
most  eminent  Shakespearian  scholars  and  commentators,  including  Johnson, 
Malone,  Steevens,  Singer,  Dyce,  Hudson,  White,  Furness,  Dowden,  and 
others.  This  method,  here  introduced  for  the  first  time,  provides  the  best 
annotation  of  Shakespeare  ever  embraced  in  a  single  edition. 


PROLOGUE. 

"This  Prologue,"  says  White,  "is  found  only  In  the  Folio; 
and  Steevens  conjectured,  perhaps  with  reason,  that  it  was  not 
written  by  Shakespeare.  Its  style  is  not  unlike  Chapman's ;  and 
he  was  just  the  man  to  be  called  upon  (perhaps  by  Shakespeare 
himself)  to  write  it.    May  it  not  be  his?  " 

I.  In  Troy  there  lies  the  scene : — Brandes  remarks :  "  The  last 
work  which  had  lain  ready  on  his  [Shakespeare's]  table  was 
Antony  and  Cleopatra.  He  had  there,  for  the  second  time,  given 
his  impression  of  the  subversion  of  a  world.  There  was  a  pend- 
ant to  this  war  of  the  East  (which  was  in  reality  waged  for 
Cleopatra's  sake),  a  war  fought  by  all  the  countries  of  the 
Mediterranean  for  the  possession  of  a  loose  woman ;  the  most 
famous  of  all  wars,  the  old  Trojan  war.  Here  was  stuff  for  a 
tragi-comedy  of  right  bitter  sort.  From  childhood  he,  and  every 
one  else,  had  been  filled  with  the  fame  and  glory  of  this  war. 
All  its  heroes  were  models  of  bravery,  magnanimity,  wisdom, 
friendship,  and  fidelity,  as  if  such  things  existed !  For  the  first 
time  in  his  life  he  feels  a  desire  to  mock — to  shout  '  Bah  ! '  straight 
out  of  his  heart — to  turn  the  wrong  side  out,  the  true  side." 

ACT  FIRST. 
Scene  I. 

[Pandarus.]  It  is  Chaucer  who  first  submits  the  character  of 
Pandarus  to  an  important  change,  and  makes  it  the  transition 
point  of  the   Pandarus  we  find  in   Shakespeare.     In   his  poem 

171 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Troilus's  young  friend  has  become  the  elderly  kinsman  of 
Creseyde,  and  he  brings  the  young  pair  together,  mostly  out  of 
looseness.  It  was  not  Chaucer's  intention,  as  it  was  Shake- 
speare's, to  make  the  old  fellow  odious.  His  role  is  not  carried 
out  with  the  cynical  and  repulsive  lowness  of  Shakespeare's  char- 
acter. Chaucer  endeavours  to  ward  off  any  painful  impression 
by  making  the  shameless  old  rascal  the  wit  of  his  poem.  He  did 
not  achieve  his  object;  his  readers  saw  only  the  procurer  in 
Pandarus,  whose  name  became  thenceforward  a  by-word  in  the 
English  language,  and  it  was  as  such  that  Shakespeare  drew 
the  character  in  downright,  unmistakable  disgust. 

83.  to  stay  behind  her  father : — Calchas,  according  to  Caxton  in 
The  Destruction  of  Troy,  was  "  a  great  learned  bishop,"  who 
was  sent  by  Priam  to  consult  the  oracle  of  Delphi  concerning 
the  result  of  the  war.  As  soon  as  he  had  made  "  his  oblations 
and  demands  for  them  of  Troy,  Apollo  answered  unto  him  say- 
ing, Calcas,  Calcas,  beware  thou  returne  not  back  againe  to  Troy, 
but  goe  thou  with  Achylles  unto  the  Greekes,  and  depart  never 
from  them,  for  the  Greekes  shall  have  victorie  of  the  Trojans,  by 
the  agreement  of  the  gods."  Chaucer's  version  of  the  story  is 
much  like  this. 

104.  Ilium  was  properly  the  name  of  the  city;  but  by  Caxton 
it  is  thus  described :  "  In  the  most  open  place  of  the  cittie,  upon 
a  rock,  the  king  Priamus  did  build  his  rich  pallace,  which  was 
named  Ilion :  that  was  one  of  the  richest  pallaces  and  the  strong- 
est that  ever  was  in  all  the  world." 

Scene  II. 

38  et  seq.  The  long  scene  between  Cressida  and  Pandarus  is 
but  an  exhibition  of  the  art  of  stimulating  reluctance  or  hesita- 
tion, as  she  pertinaciously  foils  the  pertinacious  go-between  in 
his  recommendations  of  Troilus,  only  at  last  (291-293)  to  bespeak 
his  services  more  certainly  in  bringing  him  to  her : — 

Pandarus.  I  will  be  with  you,  niece,  by  and  by. 
Cressida.  To  bring,  uncle? 
Pand.  Ay,  a  token  from  Troilus. 

The  inspiration  of  Shakespeare  is  due  here  less  to  Chaucer  than 
to  Homer,  and  he  has  caught  exactly  the  intention  so  often  mis- 
understood, of  the  pert  reply  of  Helen  to  the  inviting  Aphrodite 
on  the  Trojan  walls. 

172 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

197.  That's  Antenur:  he  has  a  sJirezud  wit: — In  the  Troy  Book 
of  Lydgate,  Antenor  is  thus  described : — 

"  Copious  in  words,  and  one  that  much  time  spent 
To  jest,  whenas  he  was  in  companie, 
So  driely,  that  no  man  could  it  espie ; 
And  therewith  held  his  countenance  so  well, 

That  every  man  received  great  content 
To  heare  him  speake,  and  pretty  jests  to  tell. 
When  he  was  pleasant  and  in  merriment : 
For  though  that  he  most  commonly  was  sad, 
Yet  in  his  speech  some  jest  he  always  had." 
292.  To  bring : — Of  this  Dyce  says :    "  The  expression,   to  be 
with  a  person  to  bring,  is  one  of  which  I  can  more  easily  adduce 
examples  than  explain  the  exact  meaning."     As  an  instance  in 
point,   he   quotes   the    following   from   Kyd's   Spanish    Tragedy : 
"  And  heere  He  have  a  fling  at  him,  that 's  flat ;  and  Balthazar, 
lie  be  with  thee  to  bring,  and  thee,  Lorenzo."     Also  this  from 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Scornful  Lady : — 

Lady.  You  have  been  with  my  sister? 
Wei.  Yes,  to  bring. 

E.  Love.  An  heir  into  the  world,  he  means. 
Of  course,  Pandarus  catches  at  the  word  bring,  and  construes  it 
in  the  sense  commonly  understood. 

Scene  III. 

49  et  seq.  the  tiger  .  .  .  sympathise : — It  was  formerly  said 
that  in  violent  storms  tigers  were  wont  to  rage  and  roar  most 
furiously. 

83-101.  Degree  being  vizarded,  etc.: — This  may  have  been  sug- 
gested by  a  magnificent  strain  of  eloquence  in  the  first  book  of 
Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  1594:  "If  nature  should  intermit 
her  course,  and  leave  altogether,  though  it  were  but  for  a  while, 
the  observation  of  her  own  laws ;  if  those  principal  and  mother 
elements,  whereof  all  things  in  this  lower  world  are  made,  should 
lose  the  qualities  which  now  they  have;  if  the  frame  of  that 
heavenly  arch  erected  over  our  heads  should  loosen  and  dissolve 
itself;  if  celestial  spheres  should  forget  their  wonted  motions, 
and  by  irregular  volubility  turn  themselves  any  way  as  it  might 
happen ;  if  the  prince  of  the  lights  of  heaven,  which  now  as  a 
giant  doth  run  his  unwearied  course,  should  as  it  were  through 

173 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

a  languishing  faintness  begin  to  stand  and  rest  himself;  if  the 
moon  should  wander  from  her  beaten  way,  the  times  and  seasons 
of  the  year  blend  themselves  by  disordered  and  confused  mix- 
tures, the  winds  breathe  out  their  last  gasp,  the  clouds  yield 
no  rain,  the  earth  be  defeated  of  heavenly  influence,  the  fruits 
of  the  earth  pine  away  as  children  at  the  withered  breasts  of  their 
mother  no  longer  able  to  yield  them  relief; — what  would  become 
of  man  himself,  whom  these  things  do  all  now  serve?  See  we 
not  plainly  that  obedience  of  creatures  unto  the  law  of  nature 
is  the  stay  of  the  whole  world?  " 

94,  95.  when  the  planets,  etc. : — The  apparently  irregular  motions 
of  the  planets  were  supposed  to  portend  some  disasters  to  man- 
kind ;  indeed  the  planets  themselves  were  not  thought  formerly  to 
be  confined  in  any  fixed  orbits  of  their  own,  but  to  wander  about, 
as  the  etymology  of  their  name  demonstrates. 

127-129.  this  neglection,  etc. : — Of  course,  where  each  man 
strives  to  overtop  or  kick  back  his  superiors,  others  will  be  moved 
to  do  the  same  by  him,  so  that  his  way  of  climbing  will  result 
in  a  progress  downwards;  as  men,  by  despising  the  law  of  their 
fathers,  teach  their  children  to  despise  them. 

155.  wooden  dialogue : — "  The  epithet  wooden,"  as  Clarke  ob- 
serves, "  has  admirable  significance  here ;  not  only  convejang  to 
the  ear  the  resounding  tread  of  the  strutting  player  on  the  boards, 
but  bringing  to  our  eye  his  puppet  hardness  and  stiffness  as  well 
as  the  awkward  stupidity  of  his  look  and  action." 

272.  this  challenge: — Steevens  remarks  upon  the  Poet's  an- 
achronism in  putting  this  challenge  in  a  style  more  suitable  to 
Palmerin  or  Amadis  than  to  Hector  or  ^neas.  But  is  not  the 
whole  play  a  binding  up  of  the  characters  and  incidents  of  classic 
times  with  the  manners  and  sentiments  of  Gothic  chivalry? 
Shakespeare  learned  this  from  the  romance  writers,  and  from 
none  more  than  from  Chaucer,  who,  nevertheless,  seems  to  have 
known  that  Greece  was  neither  a  Gothic  nor  a  Christian  nation. 
The  incident  of  the  challenge  was  most  likely  taken  from  Chap- 
man's translation  of  Homer. 

ACT  SECOND. 
Scene  I. 

[Thersites.]  Recall  the  friendship,  the  brotherhood,  existing 
between  Achilles  and  Patroclus  as  drawn  by  Homer,  and  then 

174 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

see  what  Shakespeare,  under  the  influence  of  his  own  times, 
makes  of  it.  "  He  causes  Thersites,"  says  Brandes,  "  to  spit 
upon  the  connection,  and  by  not  allowing  any  one  to  protest, 
leaves  us  to  suppose  his  version  to  be  correct."  Brandes  at- 
tributes Shakespeare's  picture  of  this  "  abomination  "  to  his  des- 
pondency at  the  time  of  writing,  when  he  was  "  full  of  loathing 
for  humanity." 

13.  mongrel: — Thersites  calls  Ajax  mongrel,  on  account  of  his 
father  being  a  Grecian  and  his  mother  a  Trojan. 

40.  The  misshapen  head  of  Thersites  is  probably  what  is  here 
alluded  to. 

125.  [Exit  Thersites.]  For  the  character  of  Thersites  Shake- 
speare probably  took  a  general  hint  from  Chapman;  there  being 
nothing  of  him  in  Chaucer,  Caxton,  or  Lydgate,  In  Homer  he  is 
represented  merely  as  a  deformed  jester: — 

"  Thersites  only  would  speak  all.    A  most  disorder'd  store 
Of  words  he  foolishly  pour'd  out,  of  which  his  mind  held  more 
Than  it  could  manage :  anything  with  which  he  could  procure 
Laughter,  he  never  could  contain.    He  should  have  yet  been  sure 
To  touch  no  kings:  t'  oppose  their  states  becomes  not  jesters 

parts. 
But  he  the  filthiest  fellow  was  of  all  that  had  deserts 
In  Troy's  brave  siege :  he  was  squint-ey'd,  and  lame,  of  either 

foot; 
So  crook-back'd  that  he  had  no  breast ;  sharp-headed,  where  did 

shoot 
(Here  and  there  sperst)  thin  mossy  hair.   He  most  of  all  envied 
Ulysses  and  ^acides,  whom  still  his  spleen  would  chide ; 
Nor  could  the  sacred  king  himself  avoid  his  saucy  vein, 
Against  whom,  since  he  knew  the  Greeks  did  vehement  hates 

sustain, 
(Being  angry  for  Achilles'  wrong,)  he  cried  out,  railing.     .     .    ." 

Scene  II. 

49,  reason  and  respect : — Thus  in  The  Rape  of  Lucrece,  274- 
277:— 

"  Then,  childish  fear  avaunt !  debating  die ! 
Respect  and  reason  wait  on  wrinkled  age ! 
My  heart  shall  never  countermand  mine  eye : 
Sad  pause  and  deep  regard  beseems  the  sage." 

175 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Caxton  furnishes  the  following  illustration  of  this  passage : 
"  Then  arose  upon  his  feet  Troylus,  the  youngest  son  of  king 
Pryamus,  and  began  to  speake  in  this  manner :  O  noble  men  and 
hardie,  how  be  ye  abashed  for  the  words  of  this  cowardlie  priest 
here !  ...  If  Helenus  be  affraid,  let  him  goe  into  the  Temple, 
and  sing  the  divine  service,  and  let  the  other  take  revenge  of  their 
injurious  wrongs  by  strength  and  force  of  armes.  .  .  .  All 
they  that  heard  Troylus  thus  speake  allowed  him,  saying  that  he 
had  verie  well  spoken.  And  thus  they  finished  their  parliament, 
and  went  to  dinner." 

Scene  III. 

Brandes,  speaking  of  the  ninth  book  of  the  Iliad  and  of  its 
relation  to  this  Scene,  says :  "  This  book  is  one  of  the  few  fin- 
ished works  of  art  which  have  been  produced  upon  this  earth. 
.  .  .  Achilles'  wrath,  Nestor's  experience,  Odysseus'  subtle 
tact.  Phoenix's  good-natured  rambling,  the  wounded  pride  of  the 
Hellenic  emissaries,  are  all  gathered  together  in  the  endeavour 
to  induce  Achilles  to  quit  his  tent.  Contrast  this  with  the  bur- 
lesque attempt  to  provoke  that  cowardly  snob  and  raw  dunce  of 
an  Achilles  out  of  his  exclusiveness,  by  passing  him  by  without  re- 
turning his  greeting  or  seeming  conscious  of  his  existence;  this 
same  Achilles,  who  falls  upon  Hector  with  his  myrmidons  and 
scoundrelly  murders  him,  just  as  the  hero,  wearied  by  battle,  has 
taken  off  his  helmet  and  laid  aside  his'  sword.  It  reads  like  the  in- 
vention of  a  mediaeval  barbarian.  But  Shakespeare  is  neither 
mediaeval  nor  a  barbarian.  No,  he  has  written  it  down  out  of  a 
bitterness  so  deep  that  he  has  felt  hero-worship,  like  love,  to  be 
an  illusion  of  the  senses.  As  the  phantasy  of  first  love  is  absurd, 
and  Troilus's  loyalty  towards  its  object  ridiculous,  so  is  the 
honour  of  our  forefathers  and  of  war  in  general  a  delusion. 
Shakespeare  now  suspects  the  most  assured  reputations ;  he  be- 
lives  that  if  Achilles  reall}^  lived  at  all,  he  was  most  probably 
a  stupid  and  vainglorious  boaster,  just  as  Helen  must  have  been 
a  hussy  by  no  means  worthy  of  the  turmoil  which  was  made 
about  her.  As  he  distorted  Achilles  into  an  absurdity,  so  he 
wrenched  all  other  personalities  into  caricatures.  Gervinus  has 
justly  remarked  that  Shakespeare  here  acts  very  much  as  his 
Patroclus  does  when  he  mimics  Agamemnon's  loftiness  and  Nes- 
tor's weakness,  for  Achilles'  delectation." 

27,  28.  a  gilt  counterfeit     .     .     .     slipped : — The  quibble  here  is 

176 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

clearly  explained  by  the  following  passage  quoted  by  Reed,  from 
Greene's  Thieves  falling  out  True  Men  come  by  their  Goods: 
"  And  therefore  he  went  and  got  him  certain  slips,  which  are 
counterfeit  pieces  of  money,  being  brasse,  and  covered  over  with 
silver,  which  the  common  people  call  slips." 

179.  He  is  so  plaguy  proud: — Plaguy  is  constantly  used  in 
New  England,  and  indeed  throughout  the  Northern  States,  just 
as  it  is  used  here.  Steevens  (in  1773)  branded  it  as  vulgar,  and 
would  have  excluded  it  from  the  text,  regardless  of  its  relations 
to  the  remainder  of  the  sentence,  which  explains  the  origin  of 
the  phrase. 

ACT  THIRD. 
Scene  I. 

12.  /  hope  I  shall  knozu  your  honour  better: — A  quibble.  He 
hopes  Pandarus  will  become  a  better  man  than  he  is  at  present. 
In  his  next  speech  he  chooses  to  understand  Pandarus  as  if  he 
had  wished  to  grow  better ;  and  hence  the  servant  affirms  that 
he  is  in  a  state  of  grace. 

I35>  136.  /  would  fain,  etc. : — "  This  trait  of  Paris,"  says  Ver- 
planck,  "  painted  as  a  man  of  spirit  and  ability,  yet  wasting  im- 
portant hours  in  submission  to  the  whims  of  his  mistress,  oddly 
resembles  the  anecdotes,  of  which  the  English  memoirs  are  full, 
of  the  habits  of  Charles  II. ;  and  to  this  the  coincidence  of  the 
name,  Nell,  adds  effect.  It  affords  a  proof  of  the  general  truth 
of  the  portrait,  that  the  grandson  of  the  monarch  who  reigned 
when  this  play  was  written  should  have  thus,  half  a  century  af- 
terwards, re-enacted  the  sauntering  indolence  of  Paris." 

Scene  III. 

Here  again  we  trace  the  Poet's  reading  in  Chaucer's  Troilus 
and  Cresseide,  Book  i. : — 

"  So  when  this  Calcas  knew  by  calculing, 
And  eke  by  the  answere  of  this  god  Apollo, 
That  the  Greekes  should  such  a  people  bring, 
Thorow  the  which  that  Troy  must  be  fordo, 
He  cast  anone  out  of  the  toune  to  go ; 
For  well  he  wist  by  sort,  that  Troie  shoulde 
Destroyed  be,  ye  would  whoso  or  n'olde. 

177 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

Wherefore  he  to  departen  softely 

Tooke  purpose  full,  this  foreknowing  wise, 

And  to  the  Greekes  host  full  prively 

He  stale  anone;  and  they  in  courteous  wise 

Did  unto  him  both  worship  and  servise 

In  trust  that  he  hath  cunning  hem  to  rede 

In  every  perill,  which  that  was  to  drede. 

Great  rumour  rose,  whan  it  was  first  espied, 

In  all  the  toune,  and  openly  was  spoken, 

That  Calcas  traitour  fled  was  and  alied 

To  hem  of  Greece ;  and  cast  was  to  be  wroken 

On  him  that  falsely  hath  his  faith  broken, 

And  sayed,  he  and  all  his  kinne  atones 

Were  worthy  to  be  brent,  both  fell  and  bones." 

145  et  seq.  Time  hath,  my  lord,  a  wallet,  etc. : — Boaden  re- 
marks that  the  image  here  is  from  Spenser's  Faerie  Queene : — 

"  But  tell  me,  Lady,  wherefore  doe  you  beare 
This  bottle  thus  before  you  with  such  toile. 
And  eeke  this  wallet  at  your  backe  arreare. 
That  for  these  Carles  to  carry  much  more  comely  were? 

'Here  in  this  bottle'  (sayd  the  sorry  Mayd) 
'  I  put  the  tears  of  my  contrition, 
Till  to  the  brim  I  have  it  full  defrayd : 
And  in  this  bag,  which  I  behinde  me  don, 
I  put  repentaunce  for  things  past  and  gon.'  " 

189,  190.  Made  emulous  missions,  etc. : — Alluding  to  the  de- 
scent of  the  gods,  as  told  of  in  Homer,  to  take  part  in  the  fight 
before  Troy.  Shakespeare  probably  followed  Chapman :  in  the 
fifth  book  of  the  Iliad  Diomed  wounds  Mars,  who,  on  his  return 
to  Olympus,  is  rated  by  Jupiter  for  having  interfered  in  the  bat- 
tle.   This  disobedience  is  the  faction  alluded  to. 

200.  Does  thoughts  unveil  in  their  dumb  cradles: — In  their 
infancy,  before  they  can  give  themselves  utterance;  as  men  often 
act  out  their  thoughts  before  they  express  them,  and  even  before 
they  are  fully  conscious  of  having  them;  some  pre-existing  im- 
pulse being  in  fact  the  seed  of  the  thought. 

214, 215.  Farezvell  .  .  .  break : — F,  Halliwell-Phillips  pub- 
lished, concerning  these  two  lines,  a  miniature  book.  The  Fool 
and  the  Ice,  London,  1883.     He  explains  that  a  whole  little  his- 

178 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

tory  lies  behind  this  curious  simile.  When  Lord  Chandos's 
company  played  at  Evesham,  near  Stratford  (before  1600),  a 
country  fool  there,  Jack  Miller  by  name,  became  so  infatuated 
with  their  clown  that  he  wanted  to  run  away  with  them,  and  had, 
consequently,  to  be  locked  up.  He  saw  from  the  window,  how- 
ever, that  the  company  was  preparing  to  depart,  and  springing 
out,  sped,  in  spite  of  the  danger,  over  forty  yards  of  ice  so 
thin  that  it  would  not  bear  a  piece  of  brick  which  was  laid  upon 
it.  (First  told  in  a  little  book  by  the  player  Robert  Arnim,  after- 
wards one  of  Shakespeare's  colleagues.  It  was  published  in 
1603  under  the  title  "  Foole  upon  Foole,  or  Sixe  Sortes  of 
Sottes,  by  Colonnico  del  Mondo  Snuffe,"  clown  at  the  Globe 
Theatre.) 

2^7.  To  see  us  here  unarm'd : — So  in  Caxton :  "  The  truce  dur- 
ing. Hector  went  on  a  day  unto  the  tents  of  the  Greekes,  and 
Achilles  beheld  him  gladly,  forasmuch  as  he  had  never  seen  him 
unarmed.  And  at  the  request  of  Achilles,  Hector  went  into  his 
tent ;  and  as  they  spake  together  of  many  things,  Achilles  said  to 
Hector,  I  have  great  pleasure  to  see  thee  unarmed,  forasmuch  as 
I  have  never  seen  thee  before." 

ACT   FOURTH. 
Scene  I. 

7.  Good  morrow,  Lord  ^neas: — In  the  greeting  of  ^neas  and 
Diomed — somewhat  reminiscent  of  that  of  Glaucus  and  Diomed 
in  Homer,  we  have  a  glimpse  of  a  more  genuine  and  moderated 
gallantry  that  gives  the  tone  and  scale  of  weaker  or  coarser  varia- 
tions. In  this  Scene  Paris  entertains  with  unruffled  politeness 
and  complacency  the  plain-spoken  truth  which  Diomed  bestows 
on  the  character  of  Helen. 

23,  24.  by  Anchises'  life  .  .  .  Venus'  hand : — He  swears  first 
by  the  life  of  his  father,  and  then  by  the  hand  of  his  mother. 

Scene  11. 

60  et  seq.  Caxton  tells  this  part  of  the  story  as  follows:  "  Cal- 
cas,  that  by  the  commandment  of  Apollo  had  left  the  Trojans,  had 
a  passing  faire  daughter  and  wise,  named  Briseyda — Chaucer,  in 
his  book  that  he  made  of  Troykis,  named  her  Cresida — for  which 

179 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

daughter  he  prayed  to  king  Agamemnon  and  to  the  other  princes, 
that  they  would  require  the  king  Priamus  to  send  Briseyda  unto 
him.  They  prayed  enough  to  king  Priamus  at  the  instance  of 
Calcas ;  but  the  Trojans  blamed  sore  Calcas,  and  called  him  evil 
and  false  traitor,  and  worthie  to  die,  that  had  left  his  owne  and 
and  naturall  lord,  for  to  goe  into  the  companie  of  his  mortal  ene- 
mies :  yet  at  the  petition  and  earnest  desire  of  the  Greekes,  the 
king  Priamus  sent  Briseyda  to  her  father." 

Scene  III. 

7-9.  And  to  his  hand  .  .  .  own  heart: — "It  is  true,"  says 
Brandes,  "  that  there  is  a  chivalrous  fine  feeling  and  sensual  ten- 
derness in  Troilus's  love,  which  seems  to  foreshadow,  as  it  were, 
that  which  some  centuries  later  found  such  full  expression  in 
Keats.  But  the  melancholy  of  Shakespeare's  matured  perception 
sets  its  iron  tooth  in  everything  at  this  period  of  his  life,  and  he 
looks  upon  absorption  in  love  as  senseless  and  laughable.  He 
shows  us  how  blindly  Troilus  runs  into  the  snare,  giddy  with 
happiness  and  uplifted  to  the  heavens,  and  how  the  next  moment 
he  awakes  from  his  intoxication,  betrayed;  but  he  shows  it  with- 
out sympathy,  coldly.  Therefore,  the  play  never  once  arouses  any 
true  emotion." 

Scene  IV. 

58.  be  thou  but  true  of  heart : — Knight  thinks  that  Shake- 
speare's conception  of  the  character  of  Cressida  is  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Chaucer,  and  that  there  is  little  in  the  scene 
before  us  to  make  us  believe  that  Cressida  will  keep  her  vows. 
In  the  elder  poet  she  manifests  a  loftiness  of  character  which 
ought  to  have  preserved  her  faith,  but  Shakespeare  has  made  her 
consistent. 

70.  Wear  this  sleeve : — The  custom  of  wearing  a  lady's  sleeve 
or  glove  as  a  favovir  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Chronicles  of 
Hall :  "  One  ware  on  his  headpiece  his  lady's  sleeve,  and  another 
bare  on  his  helme  the  glove  of  his  deareling."  And  in  Drayton's 
Barons'  Wars:  "A  lady's  sleeve  high-spirited  Hastings  wore," 
etc.  Malone  says  that  the  sleeve  which  Troilus  here  gives  Cres- 
sida may  be  an  ornamented  cuff,  such  perhaps  as  was  worn  by 
some  of  our  young  nobility  at  a  tilt."  She  afterwards  (V.  ii,  66) 
gives  it  to  Diomed. 

j8o 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

Scene  V, 

55-57.  There 's  language,  etc. : — One  would  almost  think  that 
Shakespeare  had,  on  this  occasion,  been  reading  St.  Chrysostom : 
"  Non  loquuta  es  lingua,  sed  loquuta  es  gressu ;  non  loquuta  es 
voce,  sed  oculis  loquuta  es  clarius  quam  voce " :  that  is,  "  They 
say  nothing  with  their  mouthes,  they  speake  in  their  gaite,  they 
speake  with  their  eyes,  they  speake  in  the  carriage  of  their 
bodies."  This  invective  against  a  wanton,  as  well  as  the  transla- 
tion of  it,  is  from  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy. 

120  et  seq.  The  fine  incident  of  this  passage  is  thus  narrated 
by  Caxton:  "As  they  were  fighting,  they  spake  and  talked  to- 
gether, and  thereby  Hector  knew  that  he  was  his  cousin-german, 
son  of  his  aunt;  and  then  Hector  for  courtesy  embraced  him  in 
his  arms,  and  made  great  cheer,  and  offered  to  him  to  do  all  his 
pleasure,  if  he  desired  anything  of  him,  and  prayed  him  that  he 
would  come  to  Troy  with  him  for  to  see  his  lineage  of  his 
mother's  side.  But  the  said  Thelamon,  that  intended  to  nothing 
but  his  best  advantage,  said  that  he  would  not  go  at  this  time. 
But  he  prayed  Hector,  requesting  that,  if  he  loved  him  so  much 
as  he  said,  he  would  for  his  sake,  and  at  his  instance,  cease  the 
battle  for  that  day,  and  that  the  Trojans  should  leave  the 
Greeks  in  peace.  The  unhappy  Hector  accorded  unto  him  his 
request,  and  blew  a  horn,  and  made  all  his  people  to  withdraw 
into  the  city." 

142.  By  Neoptolemus  Shakespeare  must  mean  Achilles,  though 
he  was  not  so  named.  Finding  that  his  son  was  Pyrrhus  Neop- 
tolemus, the  Poet  probably  considered  Neoptolemus  as  the  nomen 
gentilitium  or  gentilitial  name,  and  thought  the  father  was  likewise 
Achilles  Neoptolemus.  Or  he  may  have  been  led  into  the  error 
by  some  book  of  the  time.  From  another  passage  (HI.  iii.  209)  it 
is  evident  that  he  knew  Pyrrhus  had  not  yet  engaged  in  the  siege 
of  Troy:    "  But  it  must  grieve  young  Pyrrhus  now  at  home." 

219, 220.  yonder  walls,  etc. : — Caxton  thus  describes  Priam's 
palace,  which  was  named  Ilion :  "  It  was  of  height  five  hundred 
paces,  besides  the  height  of  the  towers,  whereof  there  was  great 
plenty,  and  so  high  that  it  seemed  to  them  that  saw  them  from 
farre,  they  raught  up  unto  the  heavens." 

231-233.  The  incident  of  Achilles  viewing  Hector  "limb  by 
limb  "  is  narrated  in  the  twenty-second  book  of  the  Iliad.  We 
subjoin  Chapman's  version  of  the  passage,  though  Shakespeare 
probably  had  not  seen  it  when  he  wrote  this  play : — 

iSi 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

"  His  bright  and  sparkling  eyes 
Look'd  through  the  body  of  his  foe,  and  sought  through  all  that 

prize 
The  next  way  to  his  thirsted  life.     Of  all  ways,  onfy  one 
Appear'd  to  him ;  and  this  was,  where  th'  unequal  winding  bone 
That  joins  the  shoulders  and  the  neck  had  place,  and  where  there 

lay 
The  speeding  way  to  death ;  and  there  his  quick  eye  could  dis- 
play ^ 
The  place  it  sought — even  through  those  arms  his  friend  Patro- 

clus  wore 
When  Hector  slew  him." 

233.  Quoted  is  observed,  marked,  noted. 

261-265.  Ajax  treats  Achilles  with  contempt,  and  means  to  in- 
sinuate that  he  is  afraid  of  fighting  with  Hector.  "  You  may 
every  day,"  says  he,  "  have  enough  of  Hector,  if  you  have  the 
inclination;  but  I  believe  the  whole  state  of  Greece  will  scarcely 
prevail  on  you  to  be  at  odds  with  him,  to  contend  with  him." 


ACT  FIFTH. 
Scene  I. 

65,  but  to  be  Menelaus! — In  Homer  there  is  no  hint  of  the 
modern  ridicule  of  Menelaus;  he  is  equally  worthy,  equally  "be- 
loved by  the  gods,"  and  still  the  same  mighty  hero,  if  his  wife 
has  been  abducted.  But  here,  this  eternal  mockery  of  Menelaus 
as  a  deserted  husband,  these  endless  good  and  bad  jests  on  his 
lot,  mingled  with  barbaric  laughter  over  Helen  as  unchaste ! 
Thersites  is  made  the  mouthpiece  of  most  of  it.  Shakespeare 
found  his  name  in  Ovid,  and  a  description  of  his  person  in 
Homer. 

Scene  II. 

66.  Here,  Diomed,  keep  this  sleeve: — This  is  the  sleeve  that 
Troilus  gave  Cressida  (IV.  iv.  70),  when  she  gave  him  a  glove 
in  return. 

186.  zvear  a  castle  on  thy  head: — That  is,  defend  thy  head  with 
armour  of  more  than  common  security.  So  in  The  History  of 
Prince  Arthur,  1634 :     "  Do  thy  best,  said  Sir  Gawaine ;  there- 

182 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

fore  hie  thee  fast,  and  wit  thou  well  we  shall  soon  come  after, 
and  breake  the  strongest  castle  that  thou  hast  upon  thy  head." 
It  appears  that  a  kind  of  close  helmet  was  called  a  castle ;  but  the 
word  is  here  clearly  metaphorical.  Heath  explains  that  Troilus 
tells  Diomed  to  shut  his  head  up,  if  it  were  possible,  in  a  castle, 
else  his  sword  should  reach  it. 

Scene  III. 

6.  My  dreams,  etc. : — That  is.  my  dreams  of  the  night  forebode 
ill  to  the  day.  The  incident  is  thus  related  by  Caxton :  "  An- 
dromeda saw  that  night  a  marvellous  vision,  and  her  seemed  if 
Hector  went  that  day  to  the  battle  he  should  be  slaine.  And  she, 
that  had  great  fear  and  dread  of  her  husband,  weeping,  said  to 
him,  praying  that  he  would  not  go  to  the  battle  that  day :  whereof 
Hector  blamed  his  wife,  saying  that  she  should  not  believe  nor 
give  faith  to  dreams,  and  would  not  abide  nor  tarry  therefore." 
Shakespeare  was  familiar,  no  doubt,  with  Chaucer's  brief  account 
in  The  Nonnes  Preestes  Tale : — 

"  Lo,  hire  Andromacha,  Hectores  wif. 
That  day  that  Hector  shulde  lese  his  lif, 
She  dremed  on  the  same  night  beforne 
How  that  the  lif  of  Hector  shuld  be  lorne. 
If  thilke  day  he  went  into  bataille : 
She  warned  him,  but  it  might  not  availle; 
He  went  forth  for  to  fighten  natheles, 
And  was  yslain  anon  of  Achilles." 

38.  a  lion : — The  traditions  and  stories  of  the  darker  ages 
abounded  with  examples  of  the  lion's  generosity.  Upon  the  sup- 
position that  these  acts  of  clemency  were  true,  Troilus  reasons, 
not  improperly,  that  to  spare  against  reason,  by  mere  instinct  and 
pity,  became  rather  a  generous  beast  than  a  wise  man. 

78.  [Exit  Andromache.]  The  Destruction  of  Troy  continues 
the  story  thus :  "  In  the  morning  Andromeda  went  to  the  king 
Priamus,  and  to  the  queene,  and  told  them  the  verity  of  her 
vision,  and  prayed  them  with  all  her  heart,  that  they  would  do  so 
much  at  her  request  as  to  dissuade  Hector,  that  he  should  not  in 
any  wise  that  day  go  to  the  battle.  It  happened  that  the  day  was 
faire  and  clear,  and  the  Trojans  armed  them,  and  Troylus  issued 
first  into  the  battle ;  after  him  ^neas.  And  the  king  Priamus 
sent  to  Hector,  that  he   should  keepe  him   well   that   day   from 

183 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

going  to  battle.  Wherefore  Sector  was  angry,  and  said  to  his 
wife  many  reproachful  words,  as  that  he  knew  well  that  this 
commandment  came  by  her  request ;  yet,  notwithstanding  the  for- 
bidding, he  armed  him.  At  this  instant  came  the  queene  Hecuba, 
and  the  queene  Helen,  and  the  sisters  of  Hector,  and  kneeled 
down  presently  before  his  feet,  and  prayed  him  with  weeping 
tears  that  he  would  do  off  his  harness,  and  come  with  them  into 
the  hall :  but  never  would  he  do  it  for  their  prayers,  but  descended 
from  the  palace,  and  tooke  his  horse,  and  would  have  gone  to 
battle.  But  at  the  request  of  Andromeda  the  king  Priamus  came 
running  anon,  and  tooke  him  by  the  bridle,  and  said  to  him  so 
many  things  of  one  and  other,  that  he  made  him  to  return,  but  in 
no  wise  w^ould  he  be  made  to  unarm  him."  This  scene — the  part- 
ing of  Hector  and  Andromache — takes  place  in  the  sixth  book  of 
the  Iliad,  which  some  commentators  believe  to  have  been  un- 
translated by  Chapman  when  this  play  was  written,  and  therefore 
unknown  to  Shakespeare. 

Scene  IV. 

i8.  to  proclaim  barbarism : — To  set  up  the  authority  of  igno- 
rance, and  to  declare  that  they  will  be  governed  by  policy  no 
longer. 

30.  According  to  the  rules  of  chivalry,  a  person  of  superior 
birth  might  not  be  challenged  by  an  inferior;  or,  if  challenged, 
might  refuse  combat. 

Scene  V. 

I  et  seq.  Caxton  gives  the  matter  thus:  "And  of  the  partie 
of  the  Trojans  came  the  king  Ademon  that  jousted  against  Men- 
elaus,  and  smote  him,  and  hurt  him  in  the  face :  and  he  and  Troy- 
lus  tooke  him,  and  had  led  him  away,  if  Diomedes  had  not  come 
the  sooner  with  a  great  companie  of  knights,  and  fought  with 
Troylus  at  his  coming,  and  smote  him  downe,  and  tooke  his  horse, 
and  sent  it  to  Briseyda,  and  did  cause  to  say  to  her  by  his  servant 
that  it  was  Troyluses  horse,  her  love,^and  that  he  had  conquered 
him  by  his  promise,  and  prayed  her*  from  thenceforth  that  she 
would  hold  him  for  her  love." 

14.  sagittary: — Thus  described  in  The  Destruction  of  Troy: 
"A  mervayllous  beaste  that  was  called  Sagittayre,  that  behynde 

184 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

the  myddes  was  an  horse,  and  to-fore  a  man.  This  beste  was 
heery  like  an  horse,  and  had  his  eyen  red  as  a  cole,  and  shotte 
well  with  a  bowe:  this  beste  made  the  Grekes  sore  aferde,  and 
slewe  many  of  them  with  his  bowe."     Likewise  in  Lydgate : — 

"  A  wonder  archer  of  sight  mervaylous. 
Of  form  and  shape  in  manner  monstrous: 
For  like  mine  auctour  as  I  rehearse  can. 
Fro  the  navel  upward  he  was  man, 
And  lower  down  like  a  horse  yshaped; 
And  thilke  part  that  after  man  was  maked 
Of  skin  was  black  and  rough  as  any  beare, 
Covered  with  hair  fro  cold  him  for  to  weare. 
Passing  foul  and  horrible  of  sight, 
Whose  eyes  twain  were  sparkling  as  bright 
As  is  a  furnace  with  his  red  leven, 
Or  the  lightning  that  falleth  fro  the  heven; 
Dredeful  of  looke,  and  red  as  fire  of  cheer, 
And,  as  I  rede,  he  was  a  good  archer; 
And  with  his  bow  both  at  even  and  morow 
Upon  the  Grekes  he  wrought  much  sorrow." 

20.  So  in  Caxton's  History :  "  Then,  when  Hector  was  richly 
arraied,  and  armed  with  good  harnesse  and  sure,  he  mounted 
upon  his  horse  named  Galathe,  that  was  one  of  the  most  great 
and  strongest  horses  of  the  world." 


Scene  VIII. 

I.  Most  putrefied  core: — This  is  the  "one  in  sumptuous  ar- 
mour," at  the  close  of  Scene  vi.  The  incident  was  taken  from 
The  Destruction  of  Troy. 

ID.  "  The  heroic  greatness  of  Achilles  is  mere  semblance," 
says  Ulrici ;  "  it  is  only  by  a  treacherous  attack  that — with  the  aid 
of  his  Myrmidons — he  succeeds  in  killing  Hector,  who  was  rest- 
ing and  unarmed." 

22.  The  Poet  applies  to  Hector  a  part  of  what  the  History  re- 
lates of  Troilus,  as  appears  by  the  following :  "Afore  that  Achil- 
les entered  into  the  battle,  he  assembled  his  Myrmidons,  and' 
prayed  them  that  they  would  intend  to  none  other  thing  but  to 
inclose  Troylus,  and  to  hold  him  without  flying  till  he  came. 
And  they  promised  him  that  they  so  would.     And  he  thronged 

185 


Notes  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

into  the  battle.  And  on  the  other  side  came  Troylus,  that  began 
to  flee  and  beat  down  all  them  that  he  caught,  and  did  so  much  that 
about  mid-day  he  put  the  Greeks  to  flight.  Then  the  Myrmidons, 
that  were  about  two  thousand  fighting  men,  thrust  in  among  the 
Trojans,  and  recovered  the  field.  And  as  they  held  them  together, 
and  sought  no  man  but  Troylus,  they  found  him,  and  he  fought 
strongly  and  was  inclosed  on  all  parts ;  but  he  slew  and  wounded 
many.  And  as  he  was  all  alone  among  them,  and  had  no  man  to 
help  him,  they  slew  his  horse,  and  hurt  him  in  many  places,  and 
plucked  off  his  head  helm,  and  his  coif  of  iron ;  and  he  defended 
him  in  the  best  manner  he  could.  Then  came  on  Achilles,  when 
he  saw  Troylus  all  naked,  and  ran  upon  him  in  a  rage,  and  smote 
off  his  head,  and  took  the  body  and  bound  it  to  the  tail  of  his 
horse,  and  so  drew  it  after  him  throughout  the  host." 

Scene  IX. 

10.  Great  Troy  is  ours: — "  In  the  play,  as  so  frequently  in  life," 
says  Lloyd,  "  the  honours  of  success  fall  to  the  share  of  those  who 
deserved  it,  but  in  a  mode  they  neither  expected  nor  influenced. 
The  purposes  of  Agamemnon,  Ulysses,  and  Nestor,  have  been 
sustained  throughout  and  well  pursued,  and  though  as  Thersites 
says,  their  policy  promises  little  fruit  from  circumstances  run- 
ning cross,  others  arise  that  give  full  compensation.  The  trifling 
that  they  strove  against  brings  on  consequences  that  aid  them 
shrewdly.  Achilles  is  roused  by  the  death  of  Patroclus  and 
slaughter  of  his  Myrmidons,  Ajax  also  suffers  for  his  absence, 
and  is  also  roused  by  the  loss  of  a  friend.  This  is  the  same  mo- 
tive that  gives  the  last  force  to  the  single-thoughted  resolution  of 
Troilus,  and  thus  the  play  appropriately  ends  when  on  either  side 
the  levities  and  frivolousnesses  that  had  drawn  out  to  ten  years' 
length  the  desultory  and  harassing  war,  are  finally  disposed  of, 
and  the  decisive  contest  and  crash  of  fully  collected  and  deter- 
mined powers  is  at  last  prepared  for." 

Scene  X. 

34.  [Exit  Troilus.]  In  the  twenty-fourth  book  of  the  Iliad 
Homer  makes  his  solitary  mention  of  Troilus  as  a  son  whom 
Priam  had  lost  before  the  opening  of  the  poem.  '  The  old  king 
says : — 

186 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Notes 

"  O  me,  accursed  man, 

All  my  good  sons  are  gone,  my  light  the  shades  Cimmerian 
Have  swallowed  from  me.    I  have  lost  Mestor,  surnamed  the  Fair, 
Troilus,  that  ready  knight  at  arms,  that  made  his  field  repair 
Ever  so  prompt  and  joyfully." 

This  is  all  the  great  old-world  poet  says  of  the  king's  son, 
whose  fame  in  the  Middle  Ages  outshone  Hector's  own.  This 
brief  mention  of  an  early  death  stirred  the  imagination  and  set 
fancy  at  work.  The  cyclic  poets  expanded  the  hint  and  developed 
Troilus  into  a  handsome  youth  who  fell  by  Achilles'  lance.  It 
had  become  the  custom  under  imperial  Rome  to  derive  the  empire 
from  the  Trojans,  and  the  theory  gave  birth  to  many  fabrica- 
tions, professing  to  emanate  from  eye-witnesses  of  the  war. 


187 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 


Questions  on 
Troilus  and  Cressida. 


1.  What  difficulties  are  experienced  in  assigning  the  date  of 
this  play?  What  conjectures  are  advanced  as  to  the  possibility 
of  different  parts  being  written  at  different  times? 

2.  What  are  the  probable  sources  from  which  materials  for  the 
play  were  taken? 

PROLOGUE. 

3.  What  epithet  is  applied  in  the  second  line  to  the  princes  of 
Greece  ? 

4.  At  what  stage  of  the  Trojan  war  does  the  action  begin? 

ACT  FIRST. 

5.  What  traits  as  a  lover  does  Troilus  display? 

6.  What  is  Troilus's  comment  on  the  war?  How  is  the  war 
and  its  cause  thrown  up  thus  early  as  a  background  for  the  love- 
story?    What  key  for  the  play  is  struck  in  Sc.  i.  ? 

7.  What  description  is  given  of  Ajax  in  Sc.  ii.?  With  what 
Trojan  warrior  is  he  brought  into  comparison? 

8.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  long  dialogue  in  Sc.  ii.  as  con- 
cerns Cressida:  as  concerns  Pandarus;  as  concerns  the  plot? 
How  does  it  serve  in  helping  to  create  the  enveloping  atmos- 
phere? 

9.  What  is  Cressida's  attitude  during  the  passing  of  the  Trojan 
warriors?  Does  one  guess  her  secret  before  she  reveals  herself 
at  the  end  of  Sc.  ii.?  What  type  of  character  does  she  repre- 
sent ? 

ID.  In  Sc.  iii.  what  state  of  affairs  at  the  end  of  the  seventh 
year  of  the  war  does  Agamemnon  describe?  To  what  does  he 
assign  the  cause? 

II.  How  does  Nestor  describe  the  situation?     Does  he  attempt 

188 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Questions 

to  fathom  a  cause?    Is  his  speech  mere  oratory  and  in  accordance 
with  his  historic  reputation? 

12.  Account  for  the  temper  of  lines  70-74. 

13.  How  does  Ulysses  solve  the  situation?  What  remedy  does 
he  propose?  What  picture  of  disorganization  does  he  draw? 
What  does  he  say  of  Ajax;  of  Thersites? 

14.  Should  Agamemnon  not  have  been  known  personally  to 
^neas  at  the  end  of  seven  years'  fighting? 

15.  What  challenge  is  brought  from  Hector?  To  what  motive 
does  the  challenge  appeal?    Who  penetrates  its  real  significance? 

16.  What  method  of  treating  the  challenge  does  Ulysses  advise? 

17.  Does  the  first  Act  establish  a  motif  for  the  action? 


ACT  SECOND. 

18.  How  is  Thersites  introduced?  Has  the  key  to  his  char- 
acter been  already  given?     What  is  the  quality  of  his  wit? 

19.  What  has  embittered  him,  or  is  he  a  born  railer?  Does  any 
one  escape  his  vituperation? 

20.  What  had  been  the  effect  of  Thersites's  gibes  had  Ajax  or 
Achilles  or  Patroclus  been  worthier  men?  What  new  facts  do 
we  learn  concerning  these  heroes?  Does  Sc.  i.  advance  the 
plot  any? 

21.  Indicate  the  personal  touch  with  which  Achilles  quits  the 
scene. 

22.  To  what  preceding  part  of  the  play  does  Sc.  ii.  form  a  con- 
trast?   How  is  the  contrast  carried  out  as  to  characters? 

23.  What  demand  is  sent  to  the  Trojans  concerning  Helen? 

24.  What  is  Hector's  advice?  How  is  he  answered  by  Troi- 
lus?     Whose  argument  is  the  stronger? 

25.  What  is  the  dramatic  purpose  of  the  warning  of  Cassandra? 
Does  the  argument  take  on  a  higher  moral  tone  after  her  en- 
trance? 

26.  What  reason  does  Paris  allege  for  keeping  Helen? 

27.  Why  does  Shakespeare  make  Hector  touch  the  high  moral 
of  the  problem  with  illuminating  vision  and  then  calmly  yield  to 
the  lower  motives  of  the  others? 

28.  What  is  effected  by  making  the  soliloquies  of  Thersites  in 
Sc.  iii.  take  on  the  form  of  prayers? 

29.  Is  there  an  abatement  of  power  in  presenting  the  succeed- 
ing dialogue  which  suggests  Thersites  as  the  court  fool? 

189 


Questions  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

30.  Who  make  up  the  deputation  that  calls  upon  Achilles? 
How  does  he  receive  them? 

31.  What  is  effected  by  the  depreciations  uttered  in  asides 
against  Ajax? 

ACT  THIRD. 

32.  What  anachronisms  does  the  dialogue  between  the  Servant 
and  Pandarus  contain? 

S3.  In  what  aspect  does  this  Scene  present  Paris?  Why  was 
he  not  in  the  field? 

34.  What  is  the  errand  on  which  Pandarus  comes  to  him? 

35.  In  Sc.  ii,  is  there  shown  a  temper  peculiar  to  the  classic 
world  and  different  from,  let  us  say,  the  mediaeval  Italy  of 
Romeo  and  Juliet? 

36.  Between  the  Nurse  of  the  play  just  named  and  Pandarus 
is  there  anything  to  choose  ? 

37.  How  do  the  characters  of  this  Scene  bequeath  their  names 
to  representatives  of  their  class? 

38.  Who  was  Calchas?  What  services  did  he  do  the  Greeks 
and  what  reward  did  he  ask? 

39.  Among  the  Trojans  what  office  did  Antenor  hold? 

40.  What  was  the  purpose  of  the  disrespect  offered  by  the  gen- 
erals to  Achilles? 

41.  What  does  Ulysses  say  as  to  the  way  a  man  comes  to  know 
himself?     How  does  he  apply  this  to  Ajax? 

42.  In  what  way  does  he  bring  the  argument  around  to  apply 
to  the  case  of  Achilles?  What  was  Achilles'  motive  in  keeping 
out  of  the  conflict? 

43.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  satirical  account  of  Ajax  that 
Thersites  furnishes? 

ACT  FOURTH. 

44.  Indicate  the  nature  of  the  greetings  between  Diomedes  and 
-^neas. 

45.  What  is  effected  through  juxtaposition  by  the  discussion 
between  Diomedes  and  Paris  concerning  Helen? 

46.  Does  Paris  err  on  the  side  of  courtesy  or  weakness  in  re- 
ceiving the  plain  speech  of  Diomedes? 

47.  Who  brings  to  Cressida  (Sc.  ii.)  the  news  of  Priam's  man- 
date to  convey  her  to  the  Grecian  camp  ? 

190 


TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA  Questions 

48.  What  does  she  say  in  response  to  it?  What  does  Troilus 
say  in  Sc.  iii.  about  the  sacrifice  he  is  about  to  make? 

49.  How  does  Cressida  (Sc.  iv.)  receive  the  pleadings  of  Troi- 
lus that  she  be  true?     Does  she  ever  promise  anything? 

50.  What  gave  Diomedes  assurance  to  make  the  speech  that 
Troilus  resents  as  discourteous  usage?  Where  does  the  atten- 
tion briefly  turn  at  the  close  of  the  Scene?  With  war  as  a 
background  for  love,  in  what  relations  are  they  frequently  em- 
phasized? 

51.  In  Sc.  V.  how  does  Ulysses  answer  the  bombast  of  Ajax? 
How  does  Ulysses  show  himself  the  observer  of  men? 

52.  In  what  manner  does  Cressida  bear  herself  in  the  Grecian 
camp?     How  does  Ulysses  comment  upon  her? 

53.  What  was  Ajax's  origin?  What  account  of  Troilus  is 
given  by  Ulysses,  and  what  dramatic  end  does  it  serve  in  this 
place  ? 

54.  What  follows  after  the  trial  between  Ajax  and  Hector? 
What  kind  of  courtesies  are  exchanged?  What  passes  between 
Hector  and  Achilles? 

55.  What  combat  is  set  for  the  following  day?  Does  anything 
in  modern  warfare  resemble  the  scene  of  the  Grecian's  enter- 
tainment of  Hector  and  Troilus? 


ACT  FIFTH. 

56.  Of  whom  does  Achilles  speak  at  the  opening  of  the  Act? 

57.  What  inspires  Thersites  to  such  habitual  venomous  speech? 
What  measure  of  truth  is  there  usually  in  his  words? 

58.  Sc.  i.  is  transitional  in  what  respects? 

59.  What  contrasts  are  there  between  the  scene  between  Cres- 
sida and  Diomedes  and  the  earlier  one  between  Cressida  and 
Troilus  ? 

60.  What  motive,  do  you  think,  had  Ulysses  for  conducting 
Troilus  to  the  scene  of  his  disillusion? 

61.  How  does  this  Scene  affect  Troilus's  whole  philosophy  of 
life? 

62.  Why  does  Ulysses  forbear  to  argue  with  him  now?  What 
is  insinuated  by  the  question  of  Ulysses  in  Sc.  ii.,  line  133? 

63.  What  would  doubtless  be  the  reflection  of  Ulysses  upon  a 
scene  like  this? 

64.  What  does  Troilus  resolve  to  do? 

191 


Questions  TROILUS  AND  CRESSIDA 

65.  Who  urge  Hector  not  to  go  out  to  battle?  What  attribute 
does  Troilus  give  him? 

66.  What  effect  is  produced  by  the  scene  of  waiting  and  high- 
wrought  passion  on  the  eve  of  Hector's  departure? 

67.  How  does  Cressida  end  her  Hfe  dramatically? 

68.  Is  detestation  of  Thersites  increased  by  Hector's  allowing 
him  to  live? 

69.  What  brings  Achilles  finally  into  the  battle? 

70.  What  are  the  fortunes  of  battle  before  the  encounter  of 
Achilles  and  Hector?  What  is  the  significance  of  the  one  in 
sumptuous  armour? 

71.  What  advantage  does  Achilles  take  over  Hector? 

72.  How  does  Troilus  quit  the  scene?  What  eff^ect  is  pro- 
duced by  bringing  forward  Pandarus  as  the  epilogue  to  the  play? 


73.  Does  this  play  seem  defective  in  informing  purpose?  Is  it 
a  tragedy?  If  so,  why  does  the  dramatist  allow  the  hero  and 
heroine  to  live  on  after  the  end  of  the  play? 

74.  What  elements  of  the  story  vary  from  the  Homeric  narra- 
tive ? 

75.  Is  Troilus  a  tragic -figure?  Does  he  draw  upon  the  sym- 
pathies as  strongly  as  Romeo?  How  is  he  differentiated  from 
the  latter? 

76.  What  type  of  character  does  Shakespeare  draw  in  Cressida? 
Does  he  ever  allow  any  mitigating  touches  in  relation  to  her? 
Does  he  allow  her  any  charm  such  as  he  gave  to  Cleopatra? 
How  would  the  question  of  such  an  endowment  be  affected  by 
the  difference  between  Antony  and  Troilus? 

yy.  Is  Thersites  a  character  of  nature?  What  are  his  com- 
ponents?   Is  he  a  poetical  figure  like  Caliban? 

78.  In  what  does  he  resemble  the  chorus? 

79.  Is  the  Achilles  of  this  play  true  to  Homeric  traditions? 
How  do  you  estimate  his  character? 

80.  What  resemblance  is  there  between  Ulysses  and  the  Duke 
of  dark  corners  in  Measure  for  Measure? 

81.  Construct  the  dramatist's  philosophy  of  life  as  revealed  in 
this  play. 


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